CHRISTMAS   GIFT 


FROM 


FAIRY    LAND. 


NEW  YORK: 
D.  APPLETON    &    Co. 


LOAN  STACK 


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X    TIIK     YKAK         J838 


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///  l/if   i7ttts>  I'ffirr  <•/  ////•  District  ffcurt  0f  tie  Seutttem  JJi-ttrict  uf  3 rtMi Krk 


IF  the  old  maxim,  that  "  seeing  is  believing,"  had  not  become 
in  a  great  measure  obsolete,  under  the  march  of  mind,  and  the 
progress  of  improvement,  the  long-mooted  question  of  the  exist 
ence  of  the  fairies,  would  have  been  settled  on  what  in  past  ages 
of  ignorance,  was  considered  the  most  substantial  basis,  to  wit, 
ocular  demonstration.  But,  alas  !  seeing  is  not  believing  in  this 
unbelieving  age ;  and  though  the  accumulated  testimony  of  the 
existence  of  these  little  sprites,  if  brought  to  bear  on  a  question  of 
fact,  would  satisfy  any  Court  or  Jury  in  Christendom,  still  the 
skepticism  of  Science,  and  the  hardihood  of  Philosophy,  have  at 
all  times  wilfully  shut  their  eyes  to  a  chain  of  evidence,  which 
would  be  amply  sufficient,  to  hang  a  hundred  innocent  persons, 
Where  hanging  was  in  fashion. 

It  has  been,  however,  settled  by  the  decisions  of  almost  all  the 
learned,  of  the  present  times,  at  least,  that  credulity  and  super 
stition  are  incompatible  with  a  certain  degree  of  knowledge  and 
general  intelligence ;  and  that  in  proportion  as  these  latter  become 
widely  diffused,  the  airy  creations  of  hope,  fear,  and  fancy,  vanish 
like  spectres  at  the  dawn  of  day.  But  I  must  confess  that  I  for 
one  doubt  the  validity  of  this  empty  pretension.  All,  for  example, 
unite  in  boasting,  that  the  present  is  the  most  enlightened  age  the 
world  ever  knew ;  and  yet  do  we  not  every  day  see  the  most 
enormous  impositions  practised  on  the  credulity  of  mankind, 
which,  in  their  consequences,  are  a  thousand  times  more  mischiev 
ous,  than  the  innocent  superstitions  of  classic,  or  oriental  lore  ? 


957 


Shall  we  dare  to  boast,  without  blushing  in  each  other's  faces, 
that  science  and  knowledge  have  banished  superstition  and  cre 
dulity  from  the  world,  while  the  recollection  of  the  imposture  of 
Matthias  is  fresh  in  our  minds ;  while  the  wretched  train  of  fanatics, 
called  Mormonites,  continues  to  rove  over  the  land  with  increas 
ing  numbers ;  while  the  Shakers  remain  steadfast  in  their  faith 
in  the  supernatural  powers  of  Jemima  Wilkinson ;  a"hd  above  all, 
while  millions  of  enlightened  people  believe  to  this  day,  that  a 
"  promise  to  pay"  is  equivalent  to  actual  payment  ? 

Those  who  have  taken  the  pains  to  investigate  the  history  of 
the  human  mind,  in  its  progress  from  age  10  age,  will,  I  think,  be 
perfectly  satisfied,  that  there  is  just  about  as  much  superstition 
and  credulity  in  one  as  in  another,  and  that  the  only  difference  is 
in  the  modes  by  which  they  manifest  themselves.  Compare,  for 
example,  the  lore  of  Fairy  land,  with  the  rare  absurdities,  of  what 
is  called  the  Science  of  Phrenology,  or  the  still  more  outrageous 
imposture  of  Animal  Magnetism,  and  then  ask  ourselves,  which 
requires  the  greatest  stretch  of  human  credulity,  or  abject  super 
stition,  in  order  to  swallow  its  strange  improbabilities  ?  The  lat 
ter  most  especially,  is  quite  as  much  at  war,  with  all  the  known 
laws  of  nature,  of  matter,  and  the  organization  of  matter,  of  mind 
and  its  sphere  of  action,  as  is  the  being  and  agency  of  the  fairies 
in  the  affairs  of  mankind.  The  truth  is,  that  as  in  the  individual, 
so  in  the  never-ceasing  changes  of  this  rolling  orb,  every  revolv 
ing  period,  every  new  acquisition  of  years,  produces  a  new  suc 
cession  of  shadows,  which  are  pursued  with  equal  avidity,  and 
equal  faith  jpi  their, ..reality.  New  game  starts  up  at  every  step 
before  us,  and  while  we  acknowledge  to  ourselves,  that  what  we 
have  run  down,  was  but  a  series  of  unsubstantial  nothings, 
we  still  continue  the  pursuit  of  the  objects  before  us,  with  an  eager 
ness,  which,  like  that  of  the  gamester,  increases  with  every  unsuc 
cessful  cast. 

For  my  part,  if  we  must  be  the  tools  of  superstition  and  credulity, 
as  seems  to  be  our  destiny,  I  confess  I  prefer  the  ancient,  to  the 
modern  mode  of  playing  on  these  instruments.  It  is  not  alone, 
because  the  little  pranks  of  mischief  or  beneficence,  played  by  the 
elves  and  fairies,  are  associated  with  that  period  of  our  existence, 
which  seems  all  sunshine  and  flowers,  as  we  look  back  upon  it, 


that  the  story  of  these  tiny  beings,  appeals  to  the  memory  and 
fancy,  with  such  alluring  fascinations.  There  is  something  in 
trinsically  delightful  in  these  airy  creations,  whether  of  the  im 
agination  or  the  senses.  Their  agency  was  of  a  light,  pleasing, 
and  gentle  character,  and  unlike  the  old  Gothic  superstitions,  de 
void  of  cruelty  or  malignity.  In  their  kindness  they  were  benefi 
cent  and  even  in  their  punishments,  there  was  nothing  to  inspire 
terror,  horror,  or  despair.  All  was  diminutive  in  Fairy  land ;  the  lit 
tle  beings  did  not,  like  giants,  ogres,  and  witches,  indulge  unnatural 
appetites,  or  deal  in  bloody  atrocities.  They  were  the  creations  of 
an  age  of  comparative  simplicity  and  innocence,  and  partook  in 
the  characteristics  of  pastoral  gentleness.  They  were  associated 
with  flocks  and  herds,  shepherds  and  shepherdesses ;  their  delight 
was  solitude ;  their  harmonies  those  of  nature ;  and  their  sports 
were  in  the  silence  of  night,  by  the  light  of  the  moon.  They  were 
in  truth,  a  pure  and  gentle  race ;  the  records  of  their  agency  in 
human  affairs,  afford  the  finest  lessons  of  morality  to  the  infant 
mind ;  the  romantic  air,  the  rich  invention,  and  inspiring  interest 
embodied  in  them,  are  in  truth  highly  contrasted,  with  the  great 
er  portion  of  those  abortions  of  mind  and  imagination,  which  have 
since  superseded  them,  and  over  which  our  children  daily  pass  to 
the  region  of  Morpheus. 

But  even  those  who  are  willing  to  acknowledge  the  existence  of 
fairies  in  the  Old  World,  sturdily  deny  that  they  have  ever  yet  hon 
oured  the  New  with  their  presence.  Absurd  and  foolish  incredu 
lity  !  Do  not  the  elfin  race  love  repose  and  liberty ;  and  can  it  be 
supposed  for  a  moment,  that  they  could  resistfthe  tefnptation  of 
the  boundless  solitudes  of  nature,  and  the  generous  freedom  of  this 
vast  hemisphere?  No.  Every  presumption  is  in  favour  of  the 
authenticity  of  the  following  statement,  which  I  proceed  to  lay 
before  the  reader,  as  well  for  the  purpose  of  demonstrating  the 
emigration  of  the  fairies,  as  to  account  satisfactorily  for  the  ap 
pearance  of  the  following  legends,  as  the  dogmatical  learned  are 
pleased  to  call  the  authentic  records  of  Fairy  land. 

Sometime  in  the  year  1818,  or  1819,  (for  in  regard  to  this  there 
is  some  little  uncertainty,  owing  to  the  want  of  Almanacs,  in  this 
particular  region  of  country,  at  that  time,)  Mr.  Simeon  Stark 
weather  emigrated  from  Buncombe  county,  North  Carolina,  to 


the  great  West,  in  search  of  better  land,  though  if  the  truth 
must  be  told,  that  which  he  already  possessed  was  quite  good 
enough  to  satisfy  a  reasonable  man.  But  in  the  first  place,  he 
had  been  told  there  were  sections  of  country  in  Kentucky,  con 
siderably  richer  than  any  the  Almighty  ever  formed,  where  it  \va8 
only  to  stamp  on  the  ground,  and  the  wheat  would  spring  up 
higher  than  your  ears  ;  and  in  the  second  place,  he  was  impelled 
by  the  great  maxim  of  "go  ahead,"  which  brought  his  ancestors 
from  the  Old  World,  and  will  never  rest  till  it  has  carried  their  pos 
terity  to  the  uttermost  extremity  of  the  New,  where  I  suppose 
they  will  jump  offj  in  search  of  another  still  newer. 

Being  determined  to  proceed  far  enough,  Simeon,  or  Sim,  as  he 
was  familiarly  called,  continued  to  go  ahead,  till  he  came  into 
what  is  now  called  Simpson  county — so  denominated  after  his 
name — where  he  pitched  his  tent,  just  at  the  head  of  one  of  the 
sources  of  Green  river,  which  joins  the  Ohio,  where  Evansville 
now  stands.  It  was  not  far  from  the  Big  Barren,  so  called,  be 
cause  it  bears  no  trees,  though!  am  told  it  is  one  of  the  most  fertile 
spots  in  all  Kentucky.  The  first  settlers  of  that  fine  Old  State — 
it  is  almost  half  a  century  old — were  mighty  hunters  before  the 
Lord,  and  considered  the  land  as  "trifling,"  which  afforded  no 
shelter  for  game. 

Sim  was  delighted  with  his  new  "location,"  where  he  had  all 
out  doors  for  his  patrimony,  and  plenty  of  elbow  room.  He  shot 
all  the  spring,  summer,  and  autumn,  and  in  the  winter  set  traps, 
for  all  sorts  of  outlandish  animals.  In  short,  as  he  told  me,  "he 
lived  a  free  and  easy  life— the  happiest  in  the  world,  for  he  shaved 
himself  only  once  a  year,  and  had  a  most  Almighty  everlasting 
sprinkle  of  varmints  all  about  him." 

Here  he  resided  a  good  number  of  years,  undisturbed,  save  now 
and  then  by  an  interloper,  who  came  to  settle  some  ten  or  twen 
ty  miles  off  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  molested  him  a  little.  But 
all  at  once  he  became  subject  to  divers  strange  annoyances,  only 
one  of  which  I  shall  mention,  for  fear  of  being  circumstantial  and 
tedious.  He  continually  found  that  the  game  which  had  been 
caught,  as  he  could  see  by  the  marks  on  his  traps,  was  stolen 
away  during  the  night,  or  had  released  itself  in  some  manner,  for 
which  he  could  not  account.  He  at  last  determined  to  lay  in 


wait  for  the  thief,  if  it  was  a  thief,  and  if  not,  "  to  discover  the 
unaccountable  contrivance  of  the  kritters,"  as  he  said,  "in  slip 
ping  their  wind  so  slick."  Accordingly  he  watched  for  several 
nights  in  succession,  during  which  nothing  visited  his  traps,  and 
nothing  was  seen  or  heard,  except,  as  he  sometimes  thought,  a 
strange  sort  of  whispering  about  his  ears,  which  confused  him 
exceedingly. 

The  moment  he  ceased  his  watch,  the  traps  exhibited  the  same 
appearances  every  morning,  and  Sim  found  his  dander  getting  up 
in  such  a  style,  that  he  could  hardly  keep  from  fighting  with  him 
self,  having  nobody  else  to  try  his  prowess  upon.  At,  first  he 
thought  of  going  over  to  his  next  neighbour,  about  twenty  miles 
off,  to  see  if  he  wouldn't  accommodate  him  with  a  fight,  but  his 
mind  took  another  direction,  and  he  determined  to  catch  the 
'tarnal  varmint,  whatever  it  was.  He  contrived  various  means, 
and  invented  new  devices,  but  all  to  no  purpose,  and  began  to 
meditate  going  ahead  to  some  other  spot  farther  West ;  when  he 
was  arrested  in  his  purpose,  by  one  of  the  strangest  adventures 
he  ever  encountered  in  all  his  life. 

Going  out  in  the  morning  of  the  twenty-first  of  December,  1833, 
about  sunrise,  with  his  gun,  and  followed  by  his  two  dogs,  Thun 
der  and  Lightning,  he  found  that  a  new  trap,  which  he  had  invent 
ed  the  day  before,  and  set  for  the  first  time,  was  sprung.  "Thinks 
I,  I've  got  the  varmint  now,"  said  Sim,  "  and  if  I  don't  split  him 
into  shingles,  I'm  a  triflin  feller.  So  you  see,  I  creeps  up  as  quiet 
as  a  dumb  adder,  motioned  Thunder  and  Lightnin  to  lie  still, 
got  close  up  to  the  trap,  and  listened  with  both  ears  I  reckon. 
But  I  heard  nothin  at  all,  except  as  I  conceited,  a  little,  somethin 
like  the  queer  whispers,  that  I  used  to  hear,  when  I  was  out  a 
scoutin  for  the  thief,  or  whatever  it  might  be. 

"Well,  at  last,  I  thought  I'd  lift  the  trap,  as  there  seemed 
nothin  under  it,  when  as  soon  as  I  took  it  up,  whew !  I  wish  I 
maybe  shot  flying — a  thing  which  we  Kentucky  boys  can't  stom 
ach  by  no  means — if  there  didn't  fly  out  a  flock  of  the  queerest 
little  varmint  women,  I  ever  did  see.  I  was  pretty  well  stumped, 
you  may  depend,  but  kinder  by  instinct  cocked  my  gun,  and  let 
fly  at  them ;  but  they  gave  a  scream,  and  were  out  of  sight  before 
my  buckshot  could  overtake  them." 


Such  was  the  account  which  Sim  gave  me  about  a  year  ago, 
as  I  stopped  at  his  cabin,  in  a  tour  through  the  rich  and  beautiful 
State  of  Kentucky.  But  the  most  interesting  part  of  the  story 
is  yet  to  come.  In  once  more  raising  his  trap,  which  in  his 
astonishment,  he  had  let  fall  on  seeing  the  strange  birds  he  had 
caught,  he  discovered  a  roll  of  birch-bark,  tied  up,  according  to  his 
description,  after  the  manner  of  a  parchment -deed.  This  he  had  kept, 
without  feeling,  as  he  said,  any  great  curiosity  about  what  it  con 
tained,  having  in  fact,  forgot  all  his  learning  during  his  sojourn  in 
the  woods.  But  he  had  a  great  notion  of  catching  some  of  the 
queer  little  varmints  that  he  supposed  had  dropped  it,  and  confes 
sed  to  me  that  he  had  set  that  trap,  and  remained  with  his  gun 
cocked,  watching  it  almost  ever  since  they  threw  him  off  his  bal 
ance  so  completely  that  he  missed  his  mark  for  the  first  time  since 
he  was  knee-high  to  a  grasshopper. 

The  roll  of  birch-bark,  on  examination,  was  found  to  contain  the 
following  Tales,  embellished  with  the  identical  designs,  of  which 
afac-simile  is  given  in  this  volume.  The  whole  is  now  published 
for  the  joint  benefit  of  the  Editor  and  honest  Sim,  who  not  being 
aware  of  the  liberality,  not  to  say,  munificence  of  our  Publishers, 
modestly  anticipates  just  enough  from  his  share  of  the  profits  to 
buy  him  a  new  rifle,  with  which  he  is  in  good  hopes  of  bringing 
down  some  of  the  little  varmints  aforesaid,  that  nobody  in  their 
senses,  can  doubt,  were  a  knot  of  fairies,  which  by  some  inscru 
table  accident,  or  equally  inscrutable  design,  had  thus  been  caught 
in  the  trap  of  my  good  friend  Simeon  Starkweather.  Sim  has 
promised  to  keep  constantly  on  the  watch  with  his  rifle  ready  cock 
ed,  in  case  they  should  make  their  appearance  again,  and  I  cannot 
forbear  indulging  the  hope  that  at  some  future  period,  he  may  be 
able  to  furnish  the  public  by  the  same  means,  with  a  second 
volume  of  A  CHRISTMAS  GIFT  FROM  FAIRY  LAND,  the  title  borne 
by  the  mysterious  manuscript. 

The  public's  humble  servant, 

SAMPSON  FAIRLAMB. 
Chicago,  April  1st,  1838. 


FLORELLA,  OR 


THE  FAIRY  OF  THE  RAINBOV/. 


IN  a  distant  country,  not 
yet  discovered,  there 
once  reigned  a  pow 
erful  king,  who  having 
neglected  to  pension  any 
of  the  historians  and 
poets  of  his  court,  they 
in  revenge  unanimously 
resolved  never  to  mention 
his  name,  which  has  thus 
been  irretrievablylost  lo  posterity.  All  that  is  known 
of  him  is,  that  he  was  a  widower  with  an  only  daughter, 
who  was  the  most  beautiful  child  ever  seen,  and 
who,  as  usual,  had  a  fairy  for  her  godmother.  That 


he  was  a  good  and  worthy  king,  is  sufficiently  proved, 
by  the  oblivion  which  shrouds  his  name :  since,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  it  is  the  ambition  and  crimes  of 
monarchs,  rather  than  their  virtues,  which  render 
them  illustrious. 

The  young  princess  being  an  only  child,  and  heiress 
to  a  great  kingdom,  was,  as  might  be  expected,  care 
fully  attended  to,  and  taught  every  thing  calculated  to 
render  her  worthy  of  the  high  station  to  which  she 
was  destined  ;  for  the  king,  her  father,  had  long  given 
out  that  he  never  intended  to  marry  again,  either  be 
cause  he  despaired  of  getting  so  good  a  wife,  or  that 
in  future  he  was  determined  to  be  master  at  home,  as 
well  as  abroad.  In  order  to  prevent  her  from  being 
contaminated  by  low  company,  she  was  shut  up  in  a 
high  tower,  and  several  maids-of-honour  appointed  to 
attend  her,  that  they  might  instil  into  her  mind  a  con 
viction  of  her  superiority  over  the  rest  of  her  fellow- 
creatures,  and  the  indispensable  necessity  of  support 
ing  her  dignity  on  all  occasions.  For  this  purpose, 
they  were  all  strictly  enjoined  never  to  contradict  or 
thwart  the  young  princess,  except  when  she  followed 
the  dictates  of  nature  ;  and  to  refrain  from  saying  or 
doing  any  thing  to  remind  her  that  she  was  mortal. 
The  king,  her  father,  and  his  counsellors,  who  were 
all  considered  exceeding  wise  men,  prescribed  this 
course  in  the  education  of  Florella,  (for  that  was  her 
name,)  from  a  conviction  founded  on  long  experience, 
that  the  less  monarchs  knew  of  their  subjects,  the 
better  they  could  govern  them ;  and  the  less  the  people 


knew  of  their  monarchs,  the  more  they  would  respect 
their  person  and  dignity. 


Accordingly,  Florella  had  every  thing  she  could 
wish  for  but  liberty.  When  desirous  to  walk  forth 
into  the  fields  to  chase  the  butterflies  or  pluck  the 
flowers,  she  was  told  it  did  not  become  the  heiress 
of  a  mighty  kingdom,  to  indulge  in  such  vulgar 
amusements  ;  and  when  she  wished  to  join  in  the 
sports  of  the  little  children  of  her  own  age,  the  old 
governess,  who  was  one  of  the  most  dignified  ladies 


--} 

••• 


of  the  court,  would  shake  her  finger  and  frown,  telling 
her,  at  the  same  time,  that  a  king's  daughter  and  the 
heiress  of  a  mighty  kingdom,  ought  not  to  associate 
with  her  fellow-creatures  on  terms  of  such  degrading 
equality.  She  was  placed  in  the  strait  waistcoat  of 
court  etiquette,  environed  on  all  sides  by  restraints, 
obliged  to  perform  every  thing  by  rule,  and,  though 
she  made  others  do  as  she  pleased,  was  never  per 
mitted  to  do  as  she  pleased  herself. 

Thus  shut  up  in  her  high  tower,  and  debarred  from 
all  intercourse  with  the  world,  she  passed  a  great 
portion  of  the  day  at  the  window,  watching  the  little 
children  in  their  free  and  airy  gambols  enjoying  their 
sportful  hilarity,  their  freedom  and  the  crusts  of  bread 
which  they  devoured  with,  such  a  happy  zest,  while  she 
herself  turned  with  sickly  indifference  or  disgust  from 
all  the  delicacies  prepared  to  pamper  her  appetite. 
As  she  grew  up,  her  confinement  became  every  day 
more  tedious  and  irksome,  and  her  desire  of  liberty 
more  intense.  She  pined  away,  in  envy  of  the  more 
fortunate  children  of  poverty,  who,  left  to  themselves 
and  their  wayward  impulses,  went  whither  they 
pleased,  and  indulged  in  all  the  innocent  freedom 
of  nature,  without  the  restraint  of  maids-of-honour,  or 
an  old  titled  governess.  She  often  likened  herself  to 
the  little  bird,  which  had  been  given  her  as  a  com 
panion  by  her  fairy  godmother,  and  which,  whenever  it 
saw  its  fellows  sporting  and  chirping  in  the  forest 
that  surrounded  the  high  tower,  would  flutter  about, 
its  feathers  shivering  with  agitation,  thrust  its  head 


between  the  wires,  and  try  with  all  its  little  energies 
to  escape  and  enjoy  the  freedom  of  boundless  nature. 
"  Poor  bird !"  said  Florella,  one  day,  when  its  song 
seemed  like  that  of  one  mourning  its  long  captivity, 
"  poor  little  bird !  thy  fate  is  like  mine,  only  that 
though  I  cannot  free  myself,  I  can  give  thee  liberty. 
I  grieve  to  part  with  thee,  for  thou  seemest  the  only 
living  thing  with  whom  I  can  hold  any  sympathy, 
thou  being  a  prisoner  as  well  as  I.  Go,  and  enjoy 
the  sweetest  of  all  blessings,  a  life  of  liberty.  Per 
haps  thou  wilt  sometimes  come  in  the  morning  and 
evening  to  cheer  me  with  thy  song,  which  will  be 
doubly  sweet,  because  thy  minstrelsey  will  be  volun 
tary."  So  saying,  she  opened  the  cage  and  taking 
the  little  bird  gently  in  her  hand,  carried  it  to  the 
window,  kissed  its  yellow  bill  and  set  it  at  liberty.  The 
little  bird  at  first  sailed  round  and  round  in  airy  circles 
before  the  window,  as  if  loath  to  part  from  its  gentle 
benefactress;  then  settled  down  on  the  branch  of  a 
stately  elm  nigh  by,  and  pouring  forth  a  strain  of 
melody  more  sweet  and  varied  than  ever  it  did  in  its 
wirey  prison,  returned  once  more  to  the  window,  put 
forth  its  little  bill  for  a  parting  kiss,  and  then  disap 
peared  in  the  shady  recesses  of  the  woods. 

Florella,  though  she  could  not  find  in  her  heart  to 
regret  what  she  had  done,  felt  the  departure  of  her 
feathery  associate  so  bitterly,  that  she  sat  down  and 
wept,  until  the  old  governess  came,  and  argued  an 
hour  or  more  to  convince  her  that,  being  the  daughter 
of  a  great  king,  and  heiress  to  a  mighty  kingdom,  she 


was  the  happiest  young  damsel  in  the  world.  She 
asked  her  if  she  wished  for  any  thing,  and  the  young 
princess  answered,  "Nothing  but  liberty  :"  whereupon 
the  old  lady  shook  her  head,  and  told  her  that  liberty 
was  only  fit  for  the  subjects  and  slaves  of  her  father. 


"Would  I  .were  one  of  these,"  answered  Florella,  and 
the  old  governess  turned  up  her  sharp  nose  in  contempt 
of  such  a  grovelling  sentiment. 

When  evening  approached,  Florella  was  anxious  to 
know  whether  the  little  bird  would  come  and  sing  to 
her,  and  as  the  dim  twilight  gathered  around,  her 
anxiety  increased  to  a  degree  that  was  painful,  when, 


all  at  once  she  heard  the  well-known  strain  from  the 
same  branch  of  the  stately  old  elm.  It  was  like  the 
visit  of  a  long  absent  friend,  and  wiping  away  her 
tears,  she  sat  listening  to  the  ever-varying  notes, 
which,  pouring  forth  in  the  silence  of  the  pensive  hour 
were  inexpressibly  touching  and  delicious.  Florella 
almost  fancied  she  could  translate  the  strain  into  a  song 
in  praise  of  liberty,  mingled,  now  and  then,  with  a 
mournful  melody,  indicating  pity  for  her  solitude  and 
confinement.  Every  evening  and  morning,  the  little 
bird  returned,  and  chanted  his  music  with  endless 
variety,  soothing  the  sorrows  of  his  captive  mistress 
while  he  staid,  but  only  rendering  her  more  melan 
choly  in  his  absence. 

Thus  passed  Florella's  time,  until  she  arrived  at 
the  age  of  fifteen,  when  new  thoughts  and  feelings 
gradually  introduced  themselves  into  her  gentle  bosom. 
Her  sleep  became  restless,  her  dreams  confused  and 
perplexing,  and  she  no  longer  hailed  the  presence  of 
her  little  bird  with  eager  welcome,  or  listened  to  its 
song  with  her  wonted  pleasure.  She  grew  more  tired 
of  her  prison  every  day  :  her  temper  became  irritable 
and  capricious  ;  and  on  one  occasion  she  made  the 
old  governess  stare,  by  pettishly  asking,  if  her  father 
intended  to  keep  her  for  ever  from  the  s'.ght  of  the 
young  princes  that  every  day  visited  his  court.  The 
old  lady  threw  up  her  hands,  opened  her  eyes,  and  won 
dered  who  put  such  strange  notions  in  the  head  of  the 
princess.  She  little  suspected  that  Florella  had  another 
teacher,  and  that  nature  had  now  become  her  guide. 


One  sultry  summer  evening,  having  despatched  her 
maids -of-honour  on  various  errands,  devised  for  the 
purpose  of  getting  rid  of  their  irksome  attentions,  and 
persuaded  the  old  governess  to  go  to  rest,  which  she 
was  the  more  inclined  to  do,  from  having  drank  an 


additional  glass  of  cordial — Florella  fell  into  a  sad 
revery.  The  dead  calm,  the  desperate  monotony  of 
her  existence  had  now  become  intolerable,  and  she 
passed  much  of  her  time  in  weeping,  or  complaining 
to  herself,  concerning  her  doleful  captivity  and  melan- 


choly  prospects.  "  What  avails  it,"  she  exclaimed, 
"that  I  am  the  daughter  of  a  king,  and  heiress  to 
a  great  empire,  if  I  am  thus  to  be  debarred  from  all 
intercourse  with  every  body  but  slavish  women,  and 
shut  out  from  pleasures  which  I  behold  the  lowest  of 
my  fellow-creatures  enjoying  under  my  window  ?  Bet 
ter  had  I  been  born  the  daughter  of  one  of  my  father's 
meanest  subjects ;  for  then  I  might  taste  the  sweets 
of  liberty,  and  be  happy  like  them.  Alas !  that  I 
should  have  for  my  godmother  a  fairy  whom  I  never 
see,  and  who  never  troubles  herself  with  me  or  my 
happiness." 

As  she  uttered  this  querulous  complaint,  she  heard 
the  chant  of  the  little  bird  from  its  wonted  perch,  but  it 
afforded  her  no  solace  in  the  irritation  of  her  feelings. 
After  a  prelude  of  varying  melody,  the  tuneful  song- 


ster  flitted  in  at  the  window,  and  lighting  on  the  shoul 
der  of  the  princess,  placed  its  little  bill  close  to  her 


ear,  and  caused  her  to  start  and  tremble  by  whisper 
ing  as  follows  :  "  My  princess  complains  of  the  neg 
lect  of  her  godmother,  and  I  am  come  to  know  her 
wishes.  Tell  me  what  you  wish  and  the  fairy  shall 
soon  know  it.  Whether  your  desires  are  granted  or 
not,  will  depend  on  their  being  reasonable  or  other 
wise.  Speak,  my  princess,  and  be  not  afraid.  What 
is  it  you  most  covet  ?" 

"Liberty,"  at  length  replied  Florella:  "in  other 
words,  happiness,  since  experience  has  taught  me  they 
are  one  and  the  same.  If  thou  comest  from  my  god 
mother,  I  beseech  thee,  little  bird,  to  tell  her  that  the 
first  wish  of  my  heart  is,  that  I  had  been  born  a  peas 
ant's  daughter  instead  of  a  princess  ;  that  I  might  be 
freed  from  perpetual  restraints  and  irritating  supervis 
ion  ;  that  I  might  sing,  laugh,  dance,  and  enjoy  my 
homely  food  with  such  a  zest,  as  I  see  in  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  poor,  who  are  every  day  sporting  in 
the  woods  yonder;  go  where  I  list,  do  as  I  list,  and 
be  free  like  them.  0  !  that  I  had  thy  wings,  little 
bird,  that  I  might  free  myself  from  this  abode  of  list- 
lessness,  idleness,  and  despair !" 

"  Well,"  answered  the  bird,  "  your  wishes  shall 
soon  be  granted,  at  least,  in  so  far  as  your  release  from 
this  prison.  The  king  your  father  has  contracted  you 
in  marriage  with  the  son  and  heir  of  the  great  emperor 
of  the  moon,  who  is  daily  expected  at  court.  So  pre 
pare  yourself,  my  princess,  to  be  as  amiable  as  possi 
ble,  for  the  prince  is  said  to  be  a  great  connoisseur  in 
beauty,  and  a  special  admirer  of  little  feet.  Farewell : 


you  will  not  see  me  again  unless  I  am  specially  called 
for.  You  will  soon  have  a  new  plaything,  and  the  lit 
tle  bird  and  his  song  will  be  no  longer  remembered. 
Farewell,  my  princess  ;  recollect,  I  am  the  messenger 
of  thy  godmother,  and  whenever  you  call  for  me  I 
shall  appear."  The  little  bird  then  chirped  his  adieu, 
and  flying  through  the  window  disappeared. 


"&'::! 


Florella  remained  in  a  profound  revery  for  some 
time  after  the  departure  of  the  fairy  messenger.     The 


idea  of  being  soon  released  from  her  irksome  abode, 
and  the  teazing  impertinence  of  the  old  governess, 
brought  joy  to  her  bosom,  while  that  of  a  husband,  in 
the  person  of  the  prince  of  the  moon,  created  a  trem 
ulous  fluttering  in  the  same  snowy  region.  She 
straightway  began  to  fancy  what  sort  of  a  being  he 
was,  and,  ere  her  fit  of  abstraction  was  over,  had  con 
jured  up  a  youth  clothed  in  all  those  attributes  of 
body  and  mind,  to  which  the  inexperienced  heart  of 
woman  bows  with  lowly  adoration.  She  longed  for 
the  hour  of  liberty,  arid  anticipated,  with  thrilling 
hope,  the  period  when  she  would  resign  it  voluntarily 
to  her  destined  mate. 

In  a  few  days,  the  prince  of  the  moon  arrived  at 
the  court  of  her  father,  and  Florella  was  carried  thith 
er,  to  be  introduced  to  him,  decked  in  robes  of  state, 
glittering  with  diamonds ;  and  as  the  prince  was  known 
to  be  such  an  admirer  of  little  feet,  she  wore  a  pair 
of  slippers  so  tight  that  she  could  scarcely  walk.  As 
she  rode  to  the  royal  palace,  her  heart  throbbed  with 
mingled  hopes  and  fears,  and  she  wondered  if  the 
picture  of  her  imagination  would  be  realized.  Though 
her  person  was  as  genteel  as  it  was  beautiful,  her  se 
clusion  from  the  world  had  made  her  both  modest  and 
timid,  and  when  brought  into  the  presence  of  a  splen 
did  court,  in  the  midst  of  which  stood  the  young 
prince  of  the  moon,  she  blushed  up  to  the  eyes,  and 
what  with  her  embarrassment  and  the  tightness  of  her 
slippers,  made  rather  an  awkward  appearance. 

The  prince,  besides  being  a  great  judge  of  female 


propriety,  had  a  particular  antipathy  to  blushing, 
which  he  sagaciously  concluded  was  a  sign  of  a  trou 
bled  conscience.  The  first  impression  made  by  Flo- 
rella  was,  therefore,  not  at  all  favourable,  and  when  he 
observed  that  though  she  had  beautiful  little  feet,  she 
did  not  seem  to  know  how  to  use  them,  he  shrugged 
his  shoulders,  elevated  his  eyebrows,  took  a  pinch  of 
snuff,  and  s-  \  something  to  his  favourite  attendant, 
which  bein  ttered  in  the  language  of  the  moon,  puz 
zled  all  th<  king's  court  to  such  a  degree,  that  their 
situation  was  quite  deplorable  :  nevertheless,  they  all 
stood  in  utter  astonishment  at  his  wisdom  and  wit. 

The  prince  being  a  great  traveller,  and,  withal,  a 
man  of  the  world,  behaved  with  singular  discretion 
and  propriety.  He  bowed  his  head  almost  to  the 
floor,  complimented  Florella  on  the  style  of  her  dress, 
asked  the  price  of  her  diamonds,  arid  taking  a  little 
ivory  rule  from  his  pocket,  bent  down  on  one  knee 
and  took  measure  of  her  foot,  which  he  pronounced 
exactly  of  the  size  indispensable  to  his  happiness. 
"  Had  it  been  the  hundredth  part  of  an  inch  longer," 
said  he,  "  I  should  have  been  the  most  miserable  of 
men." 

"  But  your  moonstruck  highness."  said  one  of  Flo- 
rella's  maids-of-honour,  "is  not  yet  acquainted  with 
the  beauties  of  her  mind,  and  the  strength  of  her  un 
derstanding." 

"  Pooh !"  replied  the  prince,  "  what  is  the  strength 
of  the  understanding  but  the  foundation  on  which  peo 
ple  stand  ?"  and  pointed  to  the  foot  of  the  princess  to 


give  point  to  the  joke.  Whereupon,  all  the  court 
laughed,  except  Florella,  who  stood  blushing  in  a  man 
ner  very  unbecoming,  while  her  heart  swelled  with 
indignation  and  disappointment. 

The  vision  of  her  imagination  had  given  place  to 
the  reality.  Instead  of  a  handsome  young  prince, 
bearing  all  the  outward  semblance  of  his  rank,  and 
exhibiting  the  air  noble  at  the  very  ends  of  his  fin 
gers,  she  beheld  a  diminutive,  effeminate  creature, 
youthful  indeed,  but  carrying,  in  his  face  and  person, 
the  marks  of  premature  decay,  with  nothing  to  desig 
nate  him  as  a  man,  but  his  enormous  black  whiskers, 
and  with  a  sallow,  faded,  greenish  complexion,  which 
probably  arose  from  eating  green  cheese,  the  universal 
food  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  moon.  Instead  of  ga 
zing  with  rapture  on  her  beautiful  face,  he  did  nothing 
but  look  at  her  foot,  concerning  which,  he  every  now 
and  then,  made  some  remark,  in  his  native  tongue,  to 
his  chief  counsellor  and  favourite,  the  marquis  of 
moonshine,  lord-keeper  of  the  lost  wits  of  all  the  peo 
ple  of  this  world.  Being  a  man  of  inflexible  honesty, 
he  scrupulously  refrained  from  appropriating  any  of 
these  treasures  to  himself,  although  every  body  de 
clared  there  was  not  a  living  being  in  the  empire  of 
the  moon,  that  would  have  been  more  excusable  for  a 
little  peculation,  the  marquis  being,  notwithstanding 
his  high  office,  a  most  exemplary  blockhead. 

After  the  presentation  there  was  held  a  great  feast, 
during  which  Florella  sat  next  the  prince,  and  was 
edified  by  a  dissertation  on  cookery,  in  which  he  dis- 


played  such  erudition,  that  the  princess  ironically 
complimented  him  on  his  knowledge  of  that  most  im 
portant  science. 

"  It  has  been  my  principal  study  during  my  trav 
els,"  replied  he,  with  great  self-complacency,  "  and  I 
intend  revolutionizing  the  whole  system,  as  soon  as 
the  old  codger  takes  himself  off,  which  I  hope  will 
be  soon.  It  is  amazing,  my  dear  princess,  what  ben 
efits  are  derived  from  travel,  if  a  man  only  has  his 
eyes  about  him." 

Florella  wondered  who  the  prince  meant  by  the  old 
codger,  not  dreaming  it  was  his  father,  for  though  she 
had  seen  but  little  of  hers,  she  had  always  been  ac 
customed  to  think  of  him  with  reverence  and  affec 
tion.  The  feast  lasted  six  hours,  during  which,  the 
princess  became  so  tired,  that  she  wished  herself  back 
in  the  solitary  tower,  listening  to  the  chant  of  her  little 
bird,  and  the  prince  ate  and  drank  so  lustily,  that  he 
became  a  little  merry,  insomuch,  that  he  could  hardly 
keep  his  eyes  open,  and  never  opened  his  mouth  but 
to  yawn. 


When  Florella  retired  to  her  splendid  chamber, 
which  was  hung  with  blue  and  silver  curtains,  with 
tassels  of  gold  thread,  and  furnished  with  a  bed  and 
chairs,  covered  all  over  with  plates  of  burnished  gold, 
she  cast  herself  on  the  bed,  and  wept  to  think  that  her 
father  had  affianced  her  to  a  man,  who  looked  as  if 
he  was  made  of  green  cheese,  whom  not  even  wine 
could  inspire  with  wit  or  gallantry,  and  who  thought 
more  of  a  lady's  foot  than  her  head  or  heart. 

"  I  wo'n't  marry  him,  that  I  am  resolved,"  cried  she, 
firmly  and  aloud. 

"But  you  must,  my  princess,"  replied  the  old  gov 
erness,  who  had  just  entered.  "  Young  ladies  who 
have  the  happiness  to  be  born  princesses,  must  neither 
consult  their  heart  or  their  understanding.  They 
must  marry  for  the  good  of  their  subjects,  and  after 
having  made  this  sacrifice,  they  are  held  excusable 
for  never  paying  any  attention  to  their  happiness  in  fu 
ture.  You  belong  to  the  kingdom,  and  must  marry 
solely  for  the  public  good. 

"  Alas !"  cried  Florella,  "-am  I  never  to  be  free  ? 
must  I  always  be  either  shut  up  in  a  high  tower,  or 
fettered  in  bondage  with  a  man  I  despise?  O!  that 
I  were  one  of  my  father's  handmaids,  rather  than  the 
slave  of  his  policy." 

"And  would  I  were  in  your  place,"  thought  the 
old  governess.  "  I  would  marry  the  old  man  in  the 
moon  himself,  to  be  young  again,  and  reign  over  king 
doms." 

Florella  found  that  she  had  gained  nothing  but  addi- 


tional  cares  by  her  release  from  the  solitary  tower. 
There  at  least  she  enjoyed  repose,  and  was  free  from 
the  irksome  yoke  of  inflexible  etiquette.  She  was 
now  the  slave  of  one  unvarying  round  of  heartless 
nothingness.  She  was  the  victim  of  a  perpetual 
discipline,  applied  to  teach  her  the  precise  measure 
of  civility  and  condescension  due  to  people  of  every 
rank  ;  every  courtesy  must  be  graduated  by  rule,  and 
whether  she  loved  or  hated,  her  deportment  must  be 
the  same.  Neither  her  heart  nor  her  understanding 
was  permitted  the  least  relaxation  from  the  restraint 
of  sleepless  hypocrisy ;  she  could  neither  dress  or 
undress,  eat  or  drink,  except  according  to  the  canons 
of  court  etiquette,  and  was  every  day  condemned 
to  sit  at  table  for  hours,  when  she  would  ten  thousand 
times  rather  have  been  luxuriating  among  the  flowers 
of  the  garden,  or  rambling  in  the  woods,  where  she 
might  enjoy  the  sweets  of  liberty.  One  thing  alone 


consoled  her :  the  young  prince  of  the  moon  troubled 
her  but  little  with  his  attentions.  The  matter  was  set 
tled  that  she  was  to  become  his  wife,  so  soon  as  the 
preparations  were  finished,  and  the  articles  of  settle 
ment  made  out;  and  the  prince,  in  the  meantime,  to 
dissipate  his  ennui,  amused  himself  by  paying  devoted 
attention  to  one  of  Florella's  maids-of-honour,  who, 
as  in  duty  bound,  received  his  devoirs  with  exemplary 
docility. 

Thus  stood  affairs,  when,  in  order  to  divert  his  il-4 
lustrious  guest,  the  great  king  (whose  name,  owing  to 
the  malice  of  the  poets  and  historians,  is  lost  in  obliv 
ion)  decreed  a  great  hunt  in  the  neighbouring  forest, 
which  abounded  in  lions,  tigers,  wild  boars,  and  other 
pleasant  game  for  royal  sportsmen.  As  was  the  cus 
tom  of  the  kingdom,  all  the  ladies,  and  Florella  among 
the  rest,  attended,  dressed  in  courtly  hunting-suits, 
and  mounted  on  prancing  palfreys,  led  by  pages, 
whose  duty  it  was,  to  conduct  them  out  of  all  danger 
from  the  rage  of  wild  beasts.  The  young  prince  of 
the  moon,  as  a  pretended  mark  of  gallantry,  insisted 
on  being  Florella's  page  on  this  occasion,  that  he 
might  watch  over  her  safety ;  but  the  truth  was,  he 
had  a  mortal  antipathy  to  the  faces  of  lions,  tigers, 
and  boars,  and  chose  to  remain  where  there  was  the 
least  danger  of  encountering  them.  Florella  had 
rather  have  seen  him  in  the  jaws  of  a  lion,  than  lead 
ing  her  palfrey  ;  but  she  was  told  it  was  in  accord 
ance  with  etiquette,  and  for  the  good  of  the  kingdom, 
and  nothing  more  could  be  said  on  the  subject.  Again 


she  sighed  for  the  liberty  of  doing  as  she  pleased,  and 
wished  herself  the  daughter  of  a  peasant,  rather  than 
a  king. 

At  the  first  peep  of  dawn,  the  hunters  and  their 
steeds,  the  ladies,  their  palfreys  and  pages,  set  forth 
to  the  sound  of  trumpets  and  horns,  mingled  with  the 
baying  of  the  deep-mouthed  hounds,  that  echoed 
through  the  depths  of  the  forest,  warning  their  shaggy 


•  -j- 

tenants  of  the  coming  danger.  It  was  a  goodly  and  a 
splendid  sight,  to  behold  the  gallant  array  of  armed 
princes,  nobles,  and  steeds,  glittering  in  the  rich  ca 
parisons  of  those  days,  mingled  with  blithesome  dam 
sels,  all  of  whom  could  truly  boast,  that  their  ances 
tors  came  over  to  the  kingdom  in  Noah's  ark.  Among 


these  last,  Florella  shone  with  unrivalled  splendour  of 
dress  as  well  as  beauty,  and  all  the  court  ladies  envied 
her  the  devoirs  of  the  young  prince  of  the  moon,  who 
did  nothing  but  turn  to  look  first  at  the  maid-of-honour, 
and  then  at  Florella's  foot,  the  point  of  which  peeped 
modestly  forth  from  her  gorgeous  garments.  So  in 
tensely  was  he  employed  in  these  courtly  devotions, 
that  it  so  happened  he  had  the  misfortune  to  plunge 
up  to  the  knees  in  a  slough,  by  which,  his  spangled 
shoes,  and  silken  hose,  were  grievously  defiled. 
Whereupon  he  inwardly  cursed  his  stars,  and  lament 
ed  that  ever  he  was  born. 

The  company  had  now  approached  the  recesses  of 
the  forest,  where  the  grim  ferocious  tenants  were  wont 
to  abide,  in  the  midst  of  briers,  tangled  vines,  and 
hoary  rocks,  heaped  in  wild  confusion,  or  rising  above 
the  lofty  trees  in  perpendicular  walls,  bidding  defiance 
alike  to  the  influence  of  time  and  the  efforts  of  man. 
The  dogs  began  now  to  snuff  the  air,  and  give  the 
loud  signal  of  preparation,  while  horse  and  man  ar 
ranged  themselves  for  the  approaching  trial.  Pres 
ently,  the  pack  set  up  a  universal  chorus,  and  dashed 
into  the  wild  scene  before  them,  where  their  cries 
echoed,  and  re-echoed  among  the  hoary  rocks  and  sol 
itary  glens  of  the  lonely  forest.  They  were  followed 
by  the  hunters,  while  the  courtly  cavaliers  arranged 
themselves  in  parties,  at  the  outlets  of  the  glen,  where 
they  supposed  the  wild  beasts  would  make  their  exit, 
when  hard  pressed,  and  the  pages  led  their  palfreys 
where  they  might  see  the  sport  without  sharing  the 


danger.  While  thus  disposed,  the  peculiar  yelping  of 
the  hounds,  announced  the  discovery  of  their  prey,  and 
the  increasing  clamour  proclaimed  the  approach  to 
that  quarter  in  which  the  courtly  train,  with  the  kino- 


at  their  head,  awaited,  with  gallant  ardour,  the  appear 
ance  of  the  savage  recreants.  The  spears  trembled,  the 
bright  swords  glittered,  and  the  arrows  were  drawn  to 
their  heads,  while  the  pack  was  chasing  its  prey  around 


the  gloomy  refuge  it  had  chosen,  extending  the  circle 
at  each  succeeding  revolution,  and  evidently  ap 
proaching  nearer  every  time.  All  now  remained  in 
eager  expectation  of  the  appearance  of  some  savage 
beast,  emerging  from  his  retreat,  and  every  heart  beat 
either  with  exultation  or  fear.  The  prince  zealously 
retained  the  bridle  of  Florella's  palfrey,  but  it  was  ob 
served,  that  he  disposed  himself  at  the  tail  of  the  an 
imal,  instead  of  its  head,  as  he  affirmed,  that  by  this 
means  he  could  the  more  effectually  restrain  him  from 
running  away  at  the  sight  of  the  ferocious  animal, now 
evidently  approaching  nigher  and  nigher. 

At  this  moment,  there  rushed  from  out  the  rocky 
glen  a  huge  boar,  with  ivory  tusks  projecting  from  his 
foaming  jaws,  eyes  darting  fire,  and  bristles  erected 
on  his  back  like  the  quills  of  the  porcupine.  The  in 
stant  he  appeared,  a  hundred  hissing  spears  and  whiz 
zing  arrows  were  darted  at  his  impenetrable  hide, 
some  of  which  flew  wide  of  their  mark,  and  others 
recoiled  as  from  a  rock.  One  spear  alone  penetrated 
his  shoulder  and  roused  the  animal  to  a  rage  that  con 
quered  his  fears,  in  the  agony  of  pain.  He  rushed 
towards  the  assembled  throng,  which,  under  the  influ 
ence  of  panic,  or  impelled  by  the  unseen  dominion 
of  the  fairy  godmother  for  purposes  of  her  own,  dis 
persed  in  every  direction,  leaving  the  ladies  and  their 
palfreys  to  take  care  of  themselves,  or  to  the  guidance 
of  their  pages,  who  scampered  away  into  the  recesses 
of  the  forest,  as  fast  as  their  legs  could  carry  them, 
and  disappeared. 


The  enraged  beast — after  standing  at  bay  with  the 
hounds,  and  goring  them  so  sorely  with  his  ivory 
tusks,  that  at  length,  one  by  one,  they  sneaked  away — 
paused  for  a  moment,  looking  round  with  eyes  glaring 
with  fury.  The  only  living  objects  now  in  sight,  were 
Florella  and  her  little  palfrey,  both  equally  congealed 
with  fear,  and  incapable  of  stirring  from  the  spot. 
On  the  first  appearance  of  the  boar,  the  prince  of  the 
moon  had  dropped  the  reins  of  the  palfrey,  and  beta 
king  himself  to  his  heels,  climbed  a  high  tree,  where 
he  remained  ensconced  among  the  branches,  and  trem 
bling  like  the  leaves  around  him.  The  wounded 
beast,  after  eying  the  princess  with  malignant  fury  for 
a  little  while,  approached  rapidly,  whetting  his  tusks, 
and  chewing  the  foam.  The  little  palfrey  shook  with 
trembling  terror,  under  his  fears,  and  not  his  burden, 
while  Florella,  as  she  gazed  with  horror  on  the 
monster,  gradually  lost  all  recollection,  and  fell  to  the 
earth. 

At  one  and  the  same  instant,  the  boar  dashed  to 
wards  his  prostrate  victim,  and  a  figure  darted  from 
the  opposite  quarter,  and  placing  himself  before  the 
insensible  princess,  stood  spear  in  hand,  waiting  his 
nearer  approach.  The  animal  paused  a  moment, 
sprang  forward,  and  was  met  by  the  weapon  of  the 
stranger,  who,  with  a  steady  eye  and  nervous  arm, 
darted  it  deep  between  the  body  and  the  shoulder- 
blade,  where  it  remained  quivering  with  the  force  of 
the  blow.  The  savage  animal  uttered  a  horrible  yell, 
and  stood  arrested  in  his  course.  The  blood  spouted 


from  his  mouth,  his  limbs  trembled,  relaxed,  gave  way 
under  him,  and  he  fell  dead  with  a  howl  that  echoed 
far  and  wide. 


Florella  was  roused  by  the  appalling  sound ;  she 
opened  her  eyes,  expecting  instant  death,  and  instead 
of  the  bristly  boar,  beheld  a  youth  kneeling  at  her  side, 


contemplating  her  pale  yet  beauteous  face  with  min 
gled  admiration  and  pity.  In  the  dimness  of  her 
newly  wakened  senses,  she  at  first  mistook  him  for 
the  prince  of  the  moon,  and  was  turning  away  in 
loathsome  disgust.  But  as  she  recovered  her  sight 
more  perfectly,  she  saw  in  his  stead,  a  charming 
youth,  dressed  in  a  hunting-suit  of  green,  who,  though 
not  clad  in  the  courtly  style,  was  far  more  graceful 
and  dignified  than  her  affianced  husband,  the  recreant 
prince  of  the  moon.  From  gazing  at  the  stranger, 
she  turned  to  look  at  the  huge  animal,  that  lay  gasp 
ing  a  few  paces  from  her,  and  the  conviction  came 
across  her  mind,  that  he  was  her  deliverer.  Their 
eyes  met,  and  the  sensation  the  princess  that  moment 
experienced,  caused  the  lilies  of  her  face  to  give 
place  to  blushing  roses. 

"  Am  I  right?"  at  length  she  said,  with  trembling 
apprehension;  "am  I  indebted  to  thee  for  rescue 
from  a  cruel  death?"  and  she  shuddered  as  she  look 
ed  towards  the  dead  monster,  whose  blood  made  the 
earth  smoke  around  him.  "Is  it  not  so  ?"  added  Flo- 
rella. 

"  The  boar  fell  by  my  hand,"  answered  the  youth, 
modestly  ;  "  and  I  consider  it  the  happiest  circum 
stance  of  my  life,  that  I  have  been  instrumental  in  pre 
serving  so  charming  a  lady."  The  voice  was  full  and 
sweet,  and  the  tones  fell  on  the  heart  of  the  princess, 
softened  as  it  was  by  the  warmth  of  gratitude,  which 
she  expressed  not  more  eloquently  with  her  tongue 
than  her  eyes. 


"  I  require  no  thanks,  lady ;  my  own  feelings  are 

my  reward." 

"  But  my  father  is  rich  and  great." 

"  Indeed  !  who  then  art  thou,  sweet  lady  ?" 

"  I  am  the  only  child  of  the  king  of  this  country." 

"  I  am  sorry  for  it,"  said  the  youth,  and  a  cloud 

passed  over  his  brow. 

"  Why  sorry  ?"  asked  Florella,  anxiously. 

"  Alas  !"  replied  he,  "  between  the  peasant  and  the 

king  there  is  an  impassable  barrier." 
"  What  meanest  thou  V9 


"  Nothing,"  he  answered,  and  that  moment  a  noise 
was  heard,  which  frightened  the  princess,  so  out  of 
all  sense  of  propriety,  that  she  cast  herself  into  his 
arms  and  begged  him  once  more  to  become  her  pro 
tector. 


The  prince  of  the  moon  was  all  this  while  secure 
ly  perched  amid  the  branches  of  the  royal  oak,  where 


he  had  sought  shelter,  and  now  recognising,  in  the 
noises  around  him,  the  approach  of  the  discomfited 
hunters,  bethought  himself  that  it  was  unbecoming  his 
dignity  to  be  found  in  this  situation.  He  accordingly 
forthwith  descended  from  his  roost,  and  cautiously  ap 
proaching  the  spot  where  he  had  left  the  princess  to 
the  care  of  the  boar,  beheld  the  monster  lying  dead 
on  the  ground.  Whereupon,  he  boldly  advanced,  and 
his  coming  roused  Florella  from  her  resting-place, 
who,  with  many  blushes,  hastily  withdrew  from  the 
arms  of  the  stranger. 


"  Hoity-toity  !"  exclaimed  the  prince,  "  what  is  all 
this  ?  and  who  are  you  that  dare  touch  the  person  of 
the  daughter,  and  destined  wife  of  the  Lord's  anoint 
ed?" 

"  He  saved  me  from  the  fangs  of  that  monster,  to 
whose  mercy  you  so  gallantly  left  me  erewhile," 
replied  the  princess,  scornfully  eying  the  insolent 
prince,  while  the  stranger  looked  on  him  with  lower 
ing  contempt. 

"  He  kill  that  boar !"  exclaimed  the  prince  ;  "  that's 
a  likely  story,  indeed  !  He  is  as  much  alive  as  ever 
he  was.  See  !  there,  he  is  getting  on  his  legs  again, 
and  coming  towards  us  !"  And  the  valiant  gentleman, 
perceiving  the  dispersed  hunters  rapidly  approaching 
among  the  trees,  drew  his  sword,  and  rushing  on  the 
dead  animal,  began  to  cut  and  hack  away  in  a  desper 
ate  manner,  while  Florella  and  the  stranger  could  not 
for  their  souls  refrain  from  laughing  outright. 

While  thus  employed,  the  king  and  his  retinue  came 
up,  and  seeing  how  manfully  the  prince  laid  about 
him,  were  astonished  at  his  valour,  complimenting  him, 
at  the  same  time,  on  being  the  saviour  of  his  destined 
bride.  The  more  they  complimented,  the  faster  the 
prince  repeated  his  blows,  until  at  length,  expressing 
his  belief  that  the  monster  was  dead,  he  coolly  wiped 
the  blood  from  his  sword,  and  returned  it  to  the  scab 
bard  with  a  look  of  triumph.  All  the  courtiers  flock 
ed  around  him,  pouring  forth  strains  of  admiration, 
and  the  king,  taking  the  collar  of  the  Order  of  the 
Bloody  Boar,  from  his  own,  hung  it  round  the  neck 


of  the  prince,  whom  he  embraced,  affectionately  cal 
ling  him  the  preserver  of  his  only  child,  that  he 
valued  above  all  earthly  blessings,  because,  without 
her,  his  kingdom  would  be  destitute  of  an  heir. 
The  prince  received  these  honours  with  exemplary 
modesty,  as  is  customary  with  those  who  really  merit 
them. 


Florella,  while  she  glowed  with  indignation,  at  the 
base  assumption  of  the  recreant  prince,  could,  at  the 
same  time,  scarcely  repress  her  inclination  to  laugh, 
when  she  remembered  his  alacrity  in  running  away 


at  the  first  onset  of  the  boar.  The  young  stranger 
remained  leaning  on  his  spear,  which  he  had  succeed 
ed  in  drawing  out,  seeming  too  proud  or  too  indiffer 
ent  to  dispute  the  prince's  claim,  yet  looking  so  hand 
some,  that  all  the  damsels  of  the  court  surmised  that 
he  was  a  king,  or  the  son  of  a  king  in  disguise,  and 
admired  him  accordingly.  Ever  and  anon,  he  cast  a 
look  of  such  soul-withering  scorn  at  the  prince  of  the 
moon,  that  the  doughty  hero  resolved  on  being  glori 
ously  revenged. 

By  the  law  of  court  etiquette,  which  was  held  the 
most  sacred  of  all  the  laws  of  this  ancient  and  mighty 
kingdom,  it  was  considered  a  capital  crime  for  a 
subject  to  touch  a  princess  of  the  blood  royal,  under 
any  circumstances  whatever.  No  matter  if  her  life 
or  her  honour  were  in  most  imminent  jeopardy ;  no 
matter  whether  about  to  perish  for  lack  of  help,  by 
fire,  by  water,  or  any  of  the  accidents  of  life,  death 
was  the  penalty  of  touching  even  the  hem  of  her  gar 
ments. 

Taking  advantage  of  this  law,  the  prince  of  the 
moon  related  to  the  king,  how,  while  he  was  contend 
ing  singly,  and  with  desperate  valour,  with  the  enra 
ged  boar,  and  the  princess  lay  insensible  on  the  ground, 
this  low  caitiff  had  the  audacity  to  intrude  upon 
her  privacy,  and  pollute  her  sacred  person,  while  thus 
lying  at  the  mercy  of  his  brutal  insolence,  by  raising 
her  up,  and  holding  her  encircled  in  his  arms,  while 
he  was  in  such  extremity  with  the  animal,  that  he 
had  no  time  to  revenge  this  impious  presumption. 


Nothing  could  equal  the  rage  of  the  king,  and  the 
horror  of  the  courtiers,  at  hearing  of  this  violation  of 
the  law  of  etiquette.  His  majesty  ordered  his  gallant  t 
band  of  guards,  called  the  invincibles,  forthwith  to 
seize  the  insolent  wretch,  and  bind  him  so  that  he 
might  be  safely  carried  to  the  capital,  there  to  suffer 


the  penalty  of  his  crime.  It  was  in  vain  that  Flo- 
rella  passionately  denied  the  statement  of  the  prince, 
in  so  far  as  it  was  false,  and  related  the  cowardice  of 
the  one,  the  gallantry  of  the  other.  She  could  not 
controvert  the  assertion  of  her  having  rested  on  the 
bosom  of  the  stranger,  for  she  felt  that  she  should 
remember  it  all  her  life,  and  in  spite  of  all  she  could 
say,  the  decree  of  her  father  was  confirmed.  All  be- 
c 


lieved  the  tale  of  the  prince  of  the  moon,  who  cun 
ningly  insinuated  that  the  princess  was  not  to  blame, 
as  her  person  had  been  sacrilegiously  violated  while 
she  was  in  a  state  of  insensibility ;  which  would  ac 
count  for  her  mistake  in  supposing  the  boar  had  been 
slain  by  the  insolent  interloper  instead  of  himself. 
What  confirmed  all  this,  was  the  silence  of  the  stran 
ger,  who  disdained  to  vindicate  his  claim  to  an  act,  the 
omission  to  do  which,  he  would  have  considered  a 
disgrace  to  his  manhood.  Accordingly,  he  was  carri 
ed  as  a  criminal,  accompanied  by  the  whole  court,  to 
the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  where  the  prince  of  the 
moon  was  received  with  shouts  of  triumph,  the  prison 
er,  with  curses  and  hisses  of  scorn.  The  people 
rejoiced  in  having  so  just  a  king  to  rule  over  them, 
and  the  prospect  of  so  heroic  a  prince  for  his  succes 
sor. 

Such  was  the  fury  of  the  enraged  king,  at  the  in 
dignity  offered  his  house,  that  he  convened  the  high 
court  immediately,  and  causing  the  judges  to  be  in 
structed  how  to  decide,  left  them  to  their  own  deliber 
ations.  The  prince  of  the  moon,  in  virtue  of  his  priv 
ilege,  was  permitted  to  give  in  his  testimony  on  hon 
our,  while  the  word  of  the  criminal  went  for  nothing. 

As  to  Florella,  the  sacred  law  of  etiquette  prohibit 
ed  her  appearance  in  so  vulgar  a  place  as  a  court  of 
justice.  The  decision  being  made  beforehand,  there 
was  no  use  in  delaying  it,  and  accordingly  the  young 
stranger,  who  had  saved  the  life  of  the  princess,  was 
sentenced  to  death,  for  having  touched  her  person. 


Florella  was  all  this  time,  in  an  agony  of  grief  and 
despair.  Her  heart,  while  throbbing  with  gratitude 
for  the  services  of  the  poor  youth,  who  was  now  to 
expiate  them  by  a  cruel  death,  was  overwhelmed 
with  remorse  for  having  brought  the  doom  upon  his 
head.  Had  not  her  foolish  terror  prompted  her  to 
throw  herself  into  his  arms  for  protection,  the  recre 
ant  prince  of  the  moon  would  not  have  seen  her  in 
that  situation,  and  the  violation  of  etiquette  had  re 
mained  unknown.  These  feelings  combined,  produ 
ced  another  still  more  potent,  the  joint  issue  of  pity, 
admiration,  and  gratitude.  She  used  every  effort  to 
avert  the  doom  of  the  young  stranger ;  she  threw  her 
self  at  the  feet  of  her  father,  who  spurned  her  as  a 
degenerate  girl,  insensible  to  the  dignity  of  her  birth, 


and  the  sanctity  of  royalty;  she  besought  the  prince 
of  the  moon  to  make  all  the  amends  in  his  power  for 
his  falsehoods,  by  disclosing  the  truth ;  but  that  high 
born  and  illustrious  wight  contented  himself  with  ex 
pressing  his  astonishment  at  her  making  such  a  rout 
about  a  fellow  that  nobody  knew,  and  who  probably 
could  not  tell  who  was  his  great-grandfather.  Flo- 
rella  gave  him  a  look,  which  made  him  feel  so  disa 
greeably,  that  he  was  fain  to  go  and  solace  himself 
with  the  favourite  maid-of-honour. 

Suddenly,  the  sorrowful  princess  recollected  the 
little  bird  and  his  promise,  and  invoked  his  presence 
in  a  voice  so  plaintive,  that  the  very  echoes  answered 
with  a  sigh.  But  the  messenger  of  the  fairy  god 
mother  came  not,  and  after  waiting  till  she  was  out  of 
patience,  she  invoked  him  again.  A  third  time  she 
called,  and  the  sense  of  her  desolate  state  worked  so 
painfully  on  her  heart  that  she  sobbed  aloud.  At 
length,  she  heard  a  rustling  at  her  window,  arid  open 
ing  it  with  eager  impatience,  the  little  bird  flew  in, 
perched  on  her  shoulder,  and,  placing  its  golden  bill 
close  to  her  ear,  whispered  as  follows  : — 

"  What  dost  thou  require,  my  princess,  that  thou 
callest  on  me  in  such  tones  of  sorrow.  Speak,  that  I 
may  carry  thy  message  to  thy  fairy  godmother." 

Florella  related  her  story  and  her  sorrows,  apprizing 
the  little  bird,  that  the  preserver  of  her  life  was,  on  the 
morrow,  to  suffer  a  cruel  death,  for  having  opened  his 
arms  to  receive  her,  when  she  threw  herself  on  his 
bosom  in  an  agony  of  terror.  She  besought  him  to  fly 


to  the  fairy,  and  bid  her  in  the  name  of  her  god-daugh 
ter  to  come  to  her  relief,  redress  her  wrongs,  and  as 
suage  her  sorrows,  for  she  felt  she  could  not  survive 
her  preserver,  if  he  perished  for  her  sake. 

"  Be  contented,  my  princess,"  answered  the  little 
bird.  "  Do  not  despair  of  the  help  of  Providence, 
which  is  ever  the  shield  of  the  virtuous.  Thou  art 
good,  and  thou  art  pure,  and  such  have  ever  a  friend 
in  the  Giver  of  all  good.  Hope  for  the  best,  but  hope 
humbly ;  go  to  thy  rest  and  sleep  soundly  to-night,  for 
who  knows  what  to-morrow  will  bring.  Farewell  for 
a  while  :"  and  the  liitle  bird,  flying  out  at  the  window, 
lingered  for  a  few  moments  on  the  topmost  bough  of 
a  neighbouring  tree,  quavering  forth  a  song  so  full  of 
triumphant  felicity,  that  Florella  became  inspired 
with  sweet  and  balmy  hopes.  She  soon  after  laid 
herself  quietly  down  in  her  bed,  and  slept  so  soundly, 
that  she  did  not  awake  until  the  beams  of  the  morning 
sun,  shining  full  in  her  face,  roused  her  to  the  memory 
of  the  past,  the  consciousness  of  the  present,  the  an 
ticipations  of  the  future. 

It  was  some  moments  before  the  princess  recalled  to 
mind  the  circumstances  of  the  preceding  day,  and 
the  situation  of  the  youth  who  had  saved  her  life, 
and  already  paid,  or  was  about  to  pay,  for  conferring 
that  benefit,  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  own.  The  thought 
brought  with  it  a  gush  of  tears,  at  the  same  time  that 
it  roused  her  to  a  last  effort  for  his  preservation.  Start 
ing  up,  she  called  her  attendants,  but  none  came ;  and 
after  waiting  a  few  moments  in  agonizing  impatience, 


she  resolved  to  dress  herself.  On  looking  round,  how 
ever,  she  could  discover  no  other  garments,  but  such 
as  country-maids  are  accustomed  to  wear,  and  which 


aU.'r-*'.         BUT/     • 


appeared  so  coarse  and  unseemly  that  she  could  not 
find  in  her  heart  to  put  them  on,  even  if  she  had 
known  how.  While  standing  in  this  state  of  perplex- 


ity,  she  cast  her  eyes  around,  and  was  struck  with  the 
appearance  of  her  chamber,  which  was  exceedingly 
small,  and  furnished  in  the  most  plain  and  simple  style. 
Confounded  and  alarmed  at  the  change,  she  remained 
bewildered  and  at  a  loss,  until  warned  by  a  strange 
voice  without,  saying :  "  Come,  my  little  damsel,  it  is 
high  time  to  get  up,  and  milk  the  cows  ;  don't  you  hear 
them  calling  to  you  ?"  and,  sure  enough,  she  heard 
them  lowing  close  under  the  window. 

"  Where  am  I,  and  what  has  happened  to  me  ?"  ex 
claimed  the  princess,  and  running  to  the  window, 
looked  out  on  a  scene  so  strange,  yet  so  fair  and 
cheerful,  that  she  paused  to  gaze  on  it  with  delight. 
A  wide  range  of  country  spread  before  her,  basking 
in  the  bright  rays  of  the  sun,  and  glittering  in  the  jew 
els  of  the  dewy  morning.  Cultivated  fields,  green 
meadows  enamelled  with  flowers,  and  woods  waving 
in  the  summer  zephyrs,  lay  mixed  together  in  all 
the  graceful  harmony  of  nature.  Flocks  of  sheep 
spread  themselves  here  and  there,  animating  the  hills  ; 
herds  of  cattle  lay  ruminating  in  lazy  luxury  under  the 
shady  elms  ;  groups  of  merry  children  were  sporting 
at  the  doors  of  white-washed  cottages  that  dotted  the 
landscape  ;  the  birds  were  singing  their  morning  sal 
utations,  the  milkmaids  their  rustic  love-ditties,  the 
ploughmen  whistling  their  way  to  their  daily  labours, 
and  just  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  where  stood  her  new 
abode,  a  little  winding  stream  glittered  among  the 
grass  and  trees,  lending  its  murmurs  to  the  universal 
chorus  of  nature.  Every  thing  around  her  seemed 


free  and  happy,  and  for  a  little  while  her  spirit  joined 
in  gentle  concert  with  all  these  delicious  harmonies. 

"  Do  I  dream,"  at  length  she  said,  "  or  have  I  trav 
elled  in  my  sleep  to  a  new  and  more  beautiful  world  1" 


She  was  answered  by  her  little  bird,  which  poured 
forth  one  of  his  most  delightful  and  animated  strains, 
from  a  bush  laden  with  a  thousand  moss-roses,  some 


just  in  the  bud,  some  half  expanded,  others  spread  out 
in  all  their  rich  exuberance,  sparkling  with  dew-drops 
and  diffusing  more  than  the  fragrance  of  Araby  the 
blessed,  through  the  surrounding  air.  When  he  had 
finished  his  song,  he  bathed  his  bosom  in  the  dewy 
sweets,  that  lingered  in  the  rosy  recesses  of  the  flow 
ers,  and  shivering  his  feathers  in  ecstasy,  flitted  in  at 
the  window,  greeting  her  lips  with  a  kiss  of  his  gold 
en  bill. 


"  How  likest  thou  thy  new  abode,  my  princess  ?  dost 
thou  think  thou  canst  be  happy  here,  in  the  enjoyment 
of  repose  and  liberty,  wait  on  thyself,  and  be  useful  to 
others  ?" 

"  What  dost  thou  mean,  my  little  bird  ?"  asked  the 
princess  in  wonder.  "  Where  am  I,  and  to  what  pur 
pose  have  I  been  brought  hither  ?" 


"  To  be  happy,  if  thou  deservest  to  be  so.  Thou  art 
now  in  the  NEW  WORLD,  far  distant  from  kings  and 
court  etiquette,  where  to  be  useful  is  to  be  dignified  ; 
and  where,  when  thy  duties  are  performed  to  thyself 
and  others,  thou  mayest,  without  fear  or  reproach,  en 
joy  all  innocent  sports  and  recreations,  relieved  from 
the  chains  that  have  fettered  thy  youthful  spirit,  and 
made  thee  a  slave  to  all  those  artificial  restraints, 
from  which  the  rest  of  thy  fellow-creatures  are  free." 

"  0  happy,  happy  change  !"  exclaimed  the  princess  j 
in  ecstasy,  "  but  the  recreant  prince  of  the  moon,  shall 
I  be  free  from  his  odious  persecutions  ?" 

"  For  ever,  my  princess,  if  thou  performest  thy  du 
ties  in  thy  new  station." 

"  But — but — the  stranger  who  saved  my  life,"  said 
Florella,  with  blushing  hesitation. — "  Yet,  alas  !  why 
do  I  ask  of  him  ?  doubtless,  before  this,  he  has  laid 
down  his  life  for  having  given  me  mine  :"  and  the 
young  princess  melted  into  tears. 

"  He  lives,  and  thou  wilt  see  him  again,  on  the 
same  conditions  which  shall  free  thee  for  ever  from 
the  prince  of  the  moon." 

"  And  my  father  ?"  said  Florella,  anxiously. 

"Seek  to  know  no  more,  "until  the  period  comes. 
Adieu,  my  princess,  it  is  time  to  go  forth  and  milk  the 
cows."  Just  then,  the  same  voice  was  heard  calling 
on  her,  chiding  her  delay,  but  not  in  anger.  "  Go," 
said  the  little  bird,  "it  is  the  voice  of  thy  protector,  in 
whose  care  the  fairy  hath  placed  thee,  and  for  whose 
kindness,  thou  wilt  owe  obedience,  gratitude,  and  af- 


fection.  See  that  thou  payest  the  debt,  or  the  forfeit 
will  be  the  loss  of  thy  happiness.  Farewell,  till  I  see 
thee  again  ?  Shouldst  thou  become  tired  of  thy  new 
abode,  call  on  thy  godmother,  and  she  will  restore 
thee  to  the  court  of  thy  father." 

The  little  bird  flitted  away,  and  Florella  having 
spent  rather  a  long  time  arraying  herself,  for  it  was 
an  awkward  business  to  one  who  had  heretofore  de 
pended  on  others  for  assistance,  in  the  most  insignifi 
cant  offices — Florella  went  forth,  and  met  without  the 
door,  a  staid  and  venerable  matron,  decked  in  homely 
yet  cleanly  weeds,  with  a  countenance  full  of  cheerful 
benevolence,  and  eyes  that  sparkled  even  among  wrin 
kles. 


"  Well,  my  daughter,"  said  she,  "  you  have  overslept 
yourself  this  morning,  the  cows  are  waiting  for  you. 
But  I  suppose  you  are  tired  with  your  long  journey, 
and  will  be  earlier  to-morrow.  Yonder  is  the  milk- 
pail,  and  you  must  bestir  yourself,  for  we  shall  get  no 
breakfast,  except  from  the  cows." 

Florella  went  forth,  ashamed,  not  that  the  task  of 
milking  alarmed  her  pride,  but  that  she  was  conscious 
of  her  entire  incapacity  to  fulfil  it.  The  cows  snuffed 
their  noses  at  her  appearance,  and  when  she  essayed 
to  extract  the  milky  store,  sidled  away,  as  if  impatient 
at  her  awkwardness.  In  short,  she  could  make  noth 
ing  of  it,  and  they  were  likely  to  have  no  breakfast  if 
it  depended  on  her.  The  old  woman,  who  was  wait 
ing  her  progress,  at  length  came  up,  laughing  at  her 
ill  success,  and  saying  she  was  likely  to  have  but  an 
awkward  milkmaid.  After  which,  she  seated  herself 
on  a  little  bench,  and  bidding  Florella  take  good  notice, 
finished  the  milking  without  any  difficulty. 

They  then  went  in  to  breakfast,  and  the  little  fatigue 
Florella  had  undergone,  joined  to  the  wholesome 
freshness  of  the  morning  air,  gave  her  such  an  appe 
tite,  that  she  ate  more  than  became  the  daughter  of  a 
great  king,  or  than  the  sacred  law  of  court  etiquette 
allowed,  at  the  court  of  her  father. 

When  the  wholesome  morning  meal  was  done,  the 
old  woman  instructed  her  in  various  household  duties 
of  a  light  and  cheerful  kind,  and  though  Florella  failed 
in  some,  and  performed  others  in  an  imperfect  mariner, 
the  good  old  soul,  instead  of  scolding  or  finding  fault 


with  her  wretched  bringing  up,  encouraged  her  by  the 
assurance  that  she  could  very  soon  learn  to  do  better. 
When  the  cottage  was  fairly  pat  to  rights,  she  told  the 
princess  she  might  go  forth  into  the  fields,  and  amuse 
herself  in  any  manner  she  pleased.  Accordingly,  Flo- 
rella,  tying  on  a  little  straw  hat,  which  she  could 
scarcely  feel  on  her  head,  went  forth  on  a  ramble  be 
side  the  stream  that  meandered  through  the  meadows 
at  the  foot  of  the  hills.  Here  she  met  little  children 
of  the  neighbouring  houses,  sporting  or  fishing,  or 
playing  off  their  various  gambols,  arid  such  was  the 
smiling  welcome  she  ever  bore  in  her  face,  that  they 
did  not  avoid,  but  approached  her,  with  innocent  free 
dom,  asking  her  name,  where  she  came  from,  and 
bringing  her  bouquets  of  wild  flowers,  which  grew  on 
the  banks  of  the  stream. 

There  was  a  playful  freedom,  devoid  of  forward  im 
pudence,  in  the  words  and  actions  of  these  little  ur 
chins,  so  different  from  the  fawning  servility  to  which 
she  had  been  all  her  life  accustomed,  that  though  at 
first  it  seemed  strange,  if  not  offensive,  soon  pleased 
by  its  native  charm,  and  blithesome  hilarity.  In  a 
little  while,  Florella  found  herself  joining  in  their 
sportive  gambols,  associating  herself  in  their  rural 
pursuits,  and  sharing  in  all  their  hopes  and  fears. 
When  she  left  them,  they  told  her  she  must  come 
again,  and  bring  a  basket  which  they  would  fill  with 
flowers. 

The  princess  returned  home  pleased  and  happy, 
that  she  had  found  companions,  who  were  not  her 


slaves,  and  in  whose  presence  she  could  follow  the 
impulses  of  her  heart,  or  the  caprices  of  her  fancy> 
free  from  the  cobweb  toils,  which  had  hitherto  fettered 
her  on  every  side.  Day  after 'day,  week  after  week, 
glided  away,  during  which  Florella  rapidly  improved 
in  domestic  skill,  most  especially  in  milking  the  cows, 
who  actually  seemed  now  to  welcome  her  coming,  un 
til  at  length  the  old  dame,  whom  she  called  her  mother, 
and  who  deserved  the  title  by  her  kindness,  declared, 
that  she  would  be  a  treasure  to  any  farmer's  son  in 
twenty  miles  round,  who  wanted  an  industrious,  frugal, 
sweet-tempered  wife.  The  step  of  the  princess  be 
came  every  day  more  light  and  elastic  ;  deeper  and 
deeper  was  the  tint  of  the  roses  on  her  cheek,  while 
her  waking  thoughts — save  now  and  then,  a  single  re 
collection,  that  ever  brought  forth  a  quivering  sigh — 
were  full  of  happiness,  and  her  nights  occupied  in 
balmy  rest  or  happy  dreams. 

At  length,  at  the  expiration  of  six  months  from  the 
transformation  of  Florella,  the  old  woman  fell  despe 
rately  ill,  and,  for  several  weeks,  lay  helpless  on  her 
bed  of  pain.  During  all  this  time,  the  princess  attend 
ed  her  with  the  kindest  care,  the  most  gentle,  tender, 
and  unabating  assiduity.  By  day,  she  employed  her 
self  in  administrating  to  the  pains  of  sickness,  and  the 
infirmities  of  age  ;  by  night,  she  sat  at  the  bedside, 
watching,  weeping,  and  praying,  for  the  blessing  of 
Heaven  on  her  endeavours.  By  degrees,  her  soothing 
cares,  and  tender  attentions,  proved  successful.  The 
aged  sufferer  at  length  was  able  to  arise  from  her  bed 


of  anguish,  and  to  thank  her  careful  nurse,  that  she 
was  still  in  the  land  of  the  living.  She  embraced  her 
with  tears  of  gratitude,  blessed  her  in  words  of  warm 
sincerity,  and  over  and  over  predicted  that  Heaven 
would  reward  her  for  her  kindness.  The  little  bird 
also  frequently  cheered  Florella,  with  his  song,  and 
at  length,  one  day  flew  in  at  the  window,  lighted  on 
her  shoulder,  and  whispered  in  her  ear : — 

"  Well  done,  my  princess,  thy  reward  is  at  hand." 
The  good  old  woman  insisted  that  Florella  should 
go  forth,  that  she  might,  by  partaking  in  the  fresh 
air,  recover  her  activity  and  spritefulness.  Accord 
ingly,  she  put  on  her  little  straw  bonnet,  and  sought 
her  usual  walk  along  the  bank  of  the  little  twit 
tering  stream,  where  the  young  children  were  delight 
ed  to  see  her  again,  and  gathered  wreaths  of  flowers, 
which  they  entreated  her  to  wear  on  her  head.  In  a 


*:,; 


little  while,  she  was  more  charming  than  ever,  and 
more  happy,  too,  in  the  consciousness  of  having  paid 
the  debt  of  gratitude  to  her  kind  protector. 

One  bright  summer  morning,  she  wandered  away  to 
her  favourite  retreat,  a  little  cascade  buried  deep  in  a 
shady  glen,  through  which  the  crystal  stream  had,  in 
the  lapse  of  ages,  worn  its  way,  now  tumbling  over 
precipices,  and  anon  foaming  among  the  rocks,  that 
were  green  with  moss  and  clambering  vines. 

Here,  seated  on  the  edge  of  a  little  crystal  basin,  at 
the  foot  of  the  cascade,  in  which  the  speckled  trout 
might  ever  and  anon  be  seen,darting  at  the  little  heedless 
flies  that  fell  upon  its  surface,  Florella  sunk  into  a 
deep  revery,  in  which  the  past  was  reflected  on  her 
mind,  even  as  the  rocks  and  trees  were  reflected  in 
the  glassy  pool.  Mellowed  by  time  and  distance,  the 
images  of  her  father,  of  his  court,  and  of  every  thing 
connected  with  her  past  existence,  appeared  and  dis 
appeared  like  the  pageants  of  a  dream,  and  caused 
neither  regret  for  their  absence,  or  anxiety  for  their 
return.  One  recollection,  and  one  alone,  created  pain, 
and  that  was  of  the  youth  in  the  hunter's  suit  of  green, 
who  had  laid  her  under  obligations,  she  feared  he 
would  never  give  her  an  opportunity  to  repay,  and 
whom  she  longed  to  see  once  more,  if  only  to  thank 
him.  She  sighed  deeply  at  the  recollection  of  the  few 
fleeting  moments,  when  she  lay  trembling  in  his  arms, 
felt  his  heart  beat  against  hers,  and  in  the  midst  of  her 
terrors,  was  happier  than  she  ever  was  before. 

While  her  spirit  was  thus,  as  it  were,  absent  from 

D 


its  tenement  of  clay,  expatiating  in  the  past,  and  seek 
ing  to  pry  imo  the  future,  she  was  awakened  to  a 
sense  of  the  present,  by  the  barking  of  a  dog  upon  the 
top  of  the  precipice,  over  which  the  waters  plunged, 


and  looking  up,  beheld  the  figure  of  a  man  in  green, 
eagerly  bending  over,  as  if  watching  her  motions 
with  extreme  interest.  At  first,  she  felt  alarmed,  and 


hastily  rising,  was  about  to  leave  the  spot,  when  a 
second  look  revealed  to  her  heart  the  youth  of  her 
contemplations,  and  caused  its  pulses  to  beat  with  new 
rapidity. 

"  Florella,"  exclaimed  the  youth,  in  a  voice  trem 
bling  with  eagerness,  "  do  not  fly.  If  my  presence 
is  painful,  I  will  retire  as  I  came,  content  with  having 
seen  you  once  more.  Fare  thee  well,"  added  he,  in  a 
saddened  tone,  as  he  perceived  her  going  away,  "  Fare 
thee  well ;  I  leave  you  in  safety,  since  there  are 
no  ravenous  beasts  to  molest  you  in  these  innocent  re 
treats." 

The  heart  of  the  princess  smote  her  with  a  feeling 
of  ingratitude,  for  the  conclusion  of  his  speech  had 
recalled  more  vividly  the  obligations  she  owed  him. 

"  Stay,"  cried  she,  with  deep  blushes  arid  panting 
hesitation,  "  stay  and  receive  my  thanks,  for  it  cannot 
be  a  sin  against  modesty  to  express  our  gratitude." 

In  a  moment,  the  stranger  youth  was  at  her  side. 
Florella  thanked  him  for  saving  her  life,  with  all  the 
warmth  of  an  innocent  heart,  and  the  youth  assured 
her  that  the  obligation  was  conferred  on  himself,  since 
it  had  ever  been  to  him  a  source  of  unbounded  happi 
ness.  Having  lightened  her  bosom  of  its  load  of 
gratitude,  one  might  have  thought  Florella  would  have 
been  satisfied  and  went  her  way.  But  some  how  or 
other,  they  had  so  much  to  say  besides,  that  neither 
seemed  to  think  of  parting.  The  princess  related  her 
mysterious  change  from  the  heiress  of  a  kingdom  to 
the  maid  of  an  old  peasant-woman,  and  the  youth,  who 


announced  his  name  as  Armine,  declared  that  their 
fates  seemed  united,  for  he  had  been  delivered  from 
death  in  the  same  mysterious  manner,  by  a  midnight 
conveyance  to  his  home.  The  princess  blushed  at 


this  allusion  to  a  community  of  fate,  and  Armine  con 
templated  her  with  such  speaking  looks,  that  she  turn 
ed  away  her  face,  and  seemed  gazing  at  the  foaming 
torrent  at  her  feet. 


L. 


Florella  learned  that  he  was  an  inhabitant  of  the 
neighbourhood,  and  so  significantly  looked  her  won 
der  at  not  having  seen  him  before,  that  he  answered 
her  silence,  by  saying:  "It  was  forbidden,"  Florella 
blushed  ten  times  redder  than  before,  and  rising,  turn 
ed  herself  towards  home.  Armine  attempted  to  fol 
low,  and  the  princess  staid  him  by  waving  her  hand 
for  his  departure.  But  he  persisted  in  following  at 
her  side,  and  such  was  the  roughness  of  the  path, 
that  she  was  often  obliged  to  let  him  take  her  hand, 
in  order  to  guide  her  in  safety,  and  if  on  these  occa 
sions  he  squeezed  it  too  tightly,  the  princess  ascribed 
it  to  necessity  rather  than  presumption.  The  first 
step  is  every  thing,  and  Armine,  without  any  farther 
opposition,  accompanied  Florella  home,  where  he  was 
welcomed  by  the  dame  as  an  old  acquaintance. 


From  this  time,  scarcely  a  day  passed,  in  which 
they  failed  to  meet  by  a  thousand  of  those  inscrutable 
accidents  which  the  world  calls  fate,  but  which 
youths  and  young  maidens,  learning  the  first  rudiments 
of  love,  know  full  well  are  the  result  of  a  common 
sympathy,  by  which  they  are  irresistibly  drawn  to 
gether  by  the  chords  of  their  hearts.  Armine  had 
long  looked  his  love,  and  the  princess  blushed  hers, 
ere  he  found  words  to  declare  his  passion:  he  receiv 
ed  his  answer  in  a  silence,  more  expressive,  a  thou 
sand  times,  than  all  the  babbling  eloquence  of  the  de 
ceitful  tongue.  Remembering  the  wise  old  saying, 
that  "  silence  gives  consent,"  Armine  folded  the  prin 
cess  in  his  arms :  the  throbbing  of  their  hearts,  recall 
ed  to  her  mind,  the  rescue  from  the  ferocious  boar, 
and  as  Florella  returned  the  embrace,  she  persuaded 
herself  it  was  only  a  tribute  to  gratitude. 

At  this  mcment,  they  were  startled  by  the  appear 
ance  of  a  little  woman,  about  three  feet  high,  riding 
on  a  rainbow,  and  decked  in  more  than  its  celestial  ra 
diance.  She  sailed  towards  them,  until  the  beautiful 
arch,  seemed  to  bend  just  over  their  heads,  and  en 
close  them  within  its  dazzling  semicircle.  For  a  lit 
tle  while  they  stood  in  silent  wonder,  not  altogether 
unmixed  with  apprehension,  when  the  fairy  of  the 
rainbow,  who  was  no  other  than  Florella's  godmother, 
addressed  them  as  follows,  in  a  voice  sweeter  than 
that  of  the  sweetest-toned  woman  : — 

"  Florella,  thou  hast  tasted  of  life  at  both  extremes 
of  the  fountain.  Thou  hast  learned  what  wealth, 


power,  and  honours  can  give,  and  what  are  the  bles 
sings  of  a  life  of  innocent  freedom,  joined  with  the 
discharge  of  those  duties  which  all  mankind  owe  to 
each  other.  Choose  now,  and  choose  for  ever,  wheth 
er  thou  wilt  be  a  queen,  or  a  free  tenant  of  this  land 
of  liberty,  where  thou  and  thy  posterity  for  long  ages 
to  come,  shall  enjoy  those  rights,  which,  though  be 
stowed  by  omnipotence,  are  filched  away  by  his  crea 
ture,  man.  Choose  now,  and  for  ever." 

"  If  my  father  could  come  and  enjoy  the  same  hap 
piness,"  replied  Florella. 

"Thy  father,"  replied  the  fairy  of  the  rainbow, 
"  lives  and  reigns  no  more.  He  died  months  ago ; 
but  the  people  await  thy  appearance,  and  will  submit 
to  thy  authority.  Wilt  thou  return  and  reign  over 
them  ?" 

"  Never !"  replied  the  princess,  firmly.  "  When  I 
remember  the  buoyant  health,  the  cheerful  spirits,  the 
innocent  freedom  I  have  enjoyed  in  this  land  of  liber 
ty,  and  contrast  it  with  the  thousand  vexatious  re 
straints,  the  cumbrous  splendours,  straight-laced  eti 
quette,  desperate  ennui,  and  little  envious,  malignant 
passions  of  a  court ;  when  I  recall  all  these,  my  choice 
is  made.  I  will  stay  where  I  am,  and  share  with  the 
rest  of  my  fellow-creatures,  what  God  has  given  equal 
ly  to  all." 

Armine,  who  had  watched,  with  breathless  impa 
tience,  and  trembling  apprehension,  the  decision  of 
Florella,  at  the  conclusion  of  this  declaration,  threw 
himself  at  her  feet,  and  thanked  her  in  words  of  grate- 


ful  eloquence  that  she  had  not  made  choice  of  a  station 
that  would  have  for  ever  separated  his  lot  from  hers. 
The  fairy,  too,  contemplated  her  with  looks  of  affec 
tionate  approbation,  and  replied  in  these  encouraging 
words  : — 

"  Thy  choice  is  wise,  my  daughter,  and  thou  shalt 
be  rewarded  for  having  learned  to  administer  to  the 
happiness  of  others,  by  being  happy  thyself.  Know 
that  thou  art  the  grand-daughter  of  the  old  dame  under 
whose  protection  thou  hast  lately  lived,  and  that  a 
malignant  fairy,  being  offended  with  thy  mother,  stole 
thee  away,  and  as  a  punishment,  sought  to  make  thee 
perpetually  miserable  by  passing  thee  off  for  the 
daughter  of  a  king.  Thou  art  now,  through  thy  own 
wise  choice,  restored  to  thy  former  state,  and  nothing 
now  remains  but  to  complete  thy  happiness.  Come 
hither,  Armine,  and  my  daughter." 

The  youthful  pair  approached  ;  the  fairy  bent 
down,  joined  their  hands,  blessed  them,  and  rising  on 
the  beams  of  the  rainbow,  disappeared  in  the  blue  dis 
tance  of  the  boundless  sky.  Florella,  with  the  joyful 
assent  of  her  grandmother,  was  soon  united  to  Armi 
ne,  with  whom  she  passed  a  life  of  such  joyous  free 
dom,  sweetened  and  mingled  with  useful  occupations, 
that  a  thousand  times  she  asked  herself,  for  what  un 
heard-of  crimes,  Providence  should  punish  people  by 
entailing  on  them  and  their  posterity,  the  miseries  of 
kingly  power  and  courtly  etiquette. 

The  prince  of  the  moon,  on  the  disappearance  of 
Florella,  returned  to  his  empire,  accompanied  by  the 


favourite  maid-of-honour,  and  on  the  death  of  the  em 
peror,  who  was  called  by  way  of  distinction,  the  man 
in  the  moon,  played  such  enormous  pranks  of  tyranny, 
that  the  fairy  of  the  rainbow,  whose  power  extended 
over  all  that  planet,  changed  him  into  a  vast  green 
cheese,  and  his  people,  for  one  hundred  years,  were 
permitted  to  prey  upon  him,  as  he  had  preyed  on  them. 


THE  PHILOSOPHER 


AND  FAIRY  RING-. 


1                               v 

A 

I 

. 

3 

*> 

3"* 

|        -  •               1 

UPON    A   TIME   THERE     LIVED 


" 


who  having  nothing  useful  to  keep  him  out  of  idleness, 
took  it  into  his  head  to  make  war  on  ignorance  and  su 
perstition  ;  and  to  account  for  every  thing  he  saw,  on  the 
principles  of  science  and  philosophy.  Whenever  he 


found  himself  unable  to  do  this,  he  would  not  believe 
his  own  eyes,  much  less  those  of  other  people.  Most 
especially  he  denounced  the  agency  of  ghosts,  genii, 
magicians  and  fairies  in  the  affairs  of  mankind,  and 
not  being  able  to  reconcile  the  existence  of  spiritual 
beings  to  his  notions  of  the  organization  of  matter, 
sometimes  came  very  near  denying  that  of  a  Supreme 
Being,  "  A  cause  without  a  cause,  is  no  cause  at  all," 
said  he,  to  himself,  "  and  of  nothing  can  come  noth 
ing." 

Most  invariably  did  he  make  desperate  war  against 
the  fairies,  to  whom  he  had  taken  a  mortal  antipathy, 
seeing  he  had  invented  several  excellent  theories,  not 
one  word  of  which  the  people  would  believe,  while  at 
the  same  time,  they  placed  implicit  faith  in  the  gam 
bols  of  the  little  elfin  race.  This  made  him  jealous, 
and  he  determined  to  demonstrate  the  impossibility  of 
their  existence,  on  the  principles  of  science  and  phi 
losophy.  He  wrote  a  great  folio,  which  being  read  by 
about  one  person  out  of  a  thousand  had  no  great  ef 
fect  on  the  other  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  who 
remained  in  all  the  bliss  of  ignorance,  and  he  was  as 
tonished  to  find  the  people  continued  to  believe  in  the 
fairies,  just  as  they  did  before.  One  day  an  honest 
countryman  came  to  him  to  inquire  the  reason  why 
a  salt-water  fish  was  always  fresh,  arid  was  going 
away,  after  receiving  an  explanation,  which  puzzled 
him  more  than  ever,  saying  as  he  went  out,  "  after  all, 
I  reckon  it  is  because  God  pleases  it  should  be  so." 
"  What's  that  you  say,  you  ignorant  blockhead  ?  Did'nt 


I  tell  you  it  was  the  law  of  nature  ?"  And  thereupon  he 
seized  the  great  book  he  had  written  against  the  fairies, 
and  threw  it  at  the  head  of  the  poor  countryman,  who 


if  he  had  not  dodged  on  one  side,  would  have  fared 
rather  indifferently.  As  it  was,  he  ran  away  as  fast 
as  his  heels  would  carry  him,  and  told  all  his  neigh 
bours,  the  philosopher  had  gone  mad.  "  Ah !"  said 
an  old  man  of  fourscore  and  ten,  who  was  reckoned  an 
oracle,  though  he  could  neither  read  nor  write — "  Ah  ! 
this  learning  is  a  terrible  thing.  I  never  knew  any 
good  come  from  it,  not  I.  Some  how  or  other,  I  think 
it  only  blinds  people  to  what  is,  and  makes  them  see 
what  is  not." 


All  this  time  the  fairies  had  their  eyes  on  the  phi 
losopher,  and  determined  to  be  even  with  him  one  of 
these  days,  unless  he  ceased  his  warfare  against  their 
ancient  dominion  over  the  minds  of  men.  Finding 
that  the  obstinate  old  gentleman  continued  his  attacks 
with  more  virulence  than  ever,  a  council  was  called, 
in  a  little  fairy  ring,  to  consider  the  best  mode  of  pun 
ishment.  Every  body  knows  that  a  fairy  ring  is  a  cir 
cular  plot  of  grass,  round  which  is  a  line  seemingly 
occasioned  by  the  application  of  fire. 

The  spot  was  situated  in  one  of  those  delightful  sol 
itudes  the  fairies  love.  It  was  a  little  basin  embodied 
among  hills  and  woods,  in  which  was  a  clear  spring, 
whose  white  sands  danced  in  its  bottom,  as  the  crystal 
waters  welled  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth  beneath. 
It  was  their  favourite  place  of  resort,  and  here  they 
held  a  council  to  decide  in  what  manner  they  should 
punish  this  doting,  foolish,  old  fellow,  who  would  not 
believe  his  own  eyes. 

'  The  affair  would  soon  have  been  settled,  if  the  lit 
tle  assemblage  had  not  all  talked  at  once,  which,  as 
experience  shows,  is  not  the  best  way  of  despatching 
business.  Where  there  are  no  listeners,  arguments 
are  very  apt  to  be  thrown  away;  and  where  every  one 
holds  a  different  opinion,  it  is  very  difficult  to  come 
to  a  decision.  Much  time  was  accordingly  spent  in  de 
vising  various  modes  of  punishing  the  old  philosopher, 
each  one  of  which,  though  it  would  have  been  equally 
effectual,  was  opposed  by  all  but  the  mover.  Matters 
were  getting  into  great  confusion,  when  a  venerable 


old  fairy  who  usually  presided  over  the  assemblages 
of  the  little  elfin  band,  on  account  of  having  a 
sharp  shrill  voice,  louder  than  all  the  rest,  rose,  in 
somewhat  of  a  passion,  and  adjusting  her  hood  with 
special  regard  to  the  dignity  cf  her  station,  called 
them  to  order,  with  such  energy  that  she  made  more 


noise  than  all  the  rest  put  together.  This  shows  that 
old  women  should  always  stay  at  home,  and  mind  their 
own  business,  instead  of  meddling  with  that  of  other 
people, -seeing  that  old  fools  are  the  most  desperate 
fools  in  the  world,  for  there  is  no  hope  of  their  ever 
living  to  become  wiser. 


It  should  have  been  premised,  that  the  community 
of  fairies,  of  which  I  am  speaking,  was  a  republic,  sit 
uated  somewhere  in  the  great  western  continent, 
whither  they  had  been  driven  by  the  persecutions  of 
science  and  philosophy.  It  was  composed  of  emi 
grants  from  all  parts  of  fairy  land,  in  the  known  world, 
who  had  united  together  for  defence  against  their  great 
enemies,  the  philosophers,  and  never  agreed  in  ONE 
point  since  that  time.  There  were  some  genii,  and 
magicians,  from  the  east,  among  them,  but  these  were 
not  permitted  to  say  a  word,  as  it  was  a  fundamental 
principle  of  their  government,  that  the  women  should 
do  all  the  talking.  The  genii  and  magicians  submitted 
with  rather  a  bad  grace,  but  could  do  nothing,  in  a 
community  where  the  only  privilege  of  the  minority 
was  to  pocket  every  thing  but  their  own  money. 

Various  were  the  projects  discussed  with  great  force 
and  eloquence,  which  was  almost  a  pity,  since  nobody 
heard  them.  A  little  fairy  from  Persia,  insisted  on 
having  the  philosopher  impaled  alive  ;  another  sug 
gested  the  propriety  of  banishing  him  to  the  old  world, 
where  he  would  entirely  lose  his  wits,  in  studying 
Phrenology  and  Animal  Magnetism ;  a  third,  strenu 
ously  recommended  his  being  condemned  to  search  all 
his  life  for  the  philosopher's  stone  ;  another  that  he 
should  undergo  the  infliction  of  being  made  to  believe 
what  he  could  not  account  for ;  a  fourth  insisted  on 
making  him  a  politician,  and  getting  him  abused  by 
both  parties  ;  a  fifth  enforced  the  propriety  of  setting 
the  critics  at  his  great  book  ;  and  lastly,  a  plump  little 


rosy-cheeked  Irish  fairy,  as  full  of  mischief  and  hi 
larity  as  she  could  hold,  earnestly,  and  with  great  force 
of  argument,  recommended  the  immortal  shillelah,  for 


there  was  more  real  virtue  in  that  than  in  all  the  ma 
gicians' rods  that  ever  grew  out  of  a  conjurer's  beard. 
There  was  some  considerable  disposition  to  discuss 
the  propriety  of  appointing  a  committee  to  inquire  into 
the  constitutionality  of  this  comparison  between  the 
shillelah  and  the  magician's  rod,  as  well  as  the  truth 
of  the  fact  of  its  ever  having  been  known  to  grow  out 
of  a  conjurer's  beard.  Long  and  interesting  debates 
arose,  in  which  the  nature  and  properties  of  the  shil- 
laleh  were  minutely  analyzed,  and  its  origin  discussed 
with  vast  .learning  and  research.  This  led  to  an  in 
quiry  into  the  relative  force  of  reason  and  the  cudgel 
as  instruments  for  governing  mankind  ;  which  led  to 
a  disquisition  on  the  difference  between  instinct  and 


reason ;  which  naturally  conducted  them  to  the  sub 
ject  of  horses  and  cattle  which,  by  direct  inference, 
led  to  raising  wheat  and  tobacco ;  which  again  led 
to  an  inquiry  into  the  abominable  practice  of  smoking, 
together  with  the  best  mode  of  baking  buckwheat 
cakes,  and  whether  this  was  best  done  in  this 
state  or  any  other.  This  led  to  a  discussion  of 
State  Rights ;  which  led  to  various  eloquent  decla 
mations,  which  ended  at  last  in  loud  calls  of  "  Ques 
tion!  Question!"  But  no  question  could  be  found 
in  the  variety  of  topics  that  had  been  discussed, 
and  the  old  fairy,  who,  by  common  consent,  presided 
over  their  deliberations,  put  on  her  spectacles  to  look 
for  it. 

A  long  while  elapsed  before  it  could  be  found ; 
but,  at  length,  a  little  Greek  fairy,  who  had  spent 
much  of  her  time  in  the  Cretan  labyrinth,  ferreted 
it  out,  to  the  great  content  of  all  the  rest,  who  had 
begun  to  grow  weary  ;  for  even  fairies  become  tired 
of  talking  at  last,  although,  like  their  sister  Echo, 
they  always  like  to  have  the  last  word. 

But  the  finding  of  the  question  did  not  seem 
likely  to  facilitate  the  decision,  for  many  had  been 
led  so  far  astray,  that  they  doubted  whether  they 
had  found  the  right  one,  and  this  again  led  to  a  great 
deal  of  talking  to  very  little  purpose,  except  wasting 
time,  which,  to  be  sure,  is  of  no  great  consequence 
to  the  fairies,  who  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  dance 
by  the  light  of  the  moon  and  stars ;  gather  together 
in  whispering  groves  to  watch  unseen  the  rural  lovers 


on  their  lonely  rambles  ;  bask  on  the  brink  of  some 
clear  crystal  spring  or  murmuring  brook  and  admire 
themselves  in  its  glassy  mirror  ;  plot  mischief  against 
wicked  wights  that  do  ill  offices  to  their  neighbours, 
punish  the  bad  children,  and  reward  those  who  obey 
their  parents  and  love  one  another.  They  are,  indeed, 
a  delightful  race  of  little  beings,  that  never  did  any  harm 
in  this  world,  although  they  have  been  much  scandal 
ized  by  evil  tongues,  and  it  may  safely  be  said  that 
the  world  has  grown  little  wiser  or  better  since  they 
became  objects  of  persecution  to  the  philosophers. — 
But  enough  of  this.  The  fairies  were  about  to  ad 
journ  for  want  of  a  quorum,  when  the  sergeant-at- 
arms,  who  had  been  stationed  on  the  lookout,  to  pre 
vent  them  from  being  intruded  upon,  came  in  out  of 
breath,  and  announced  the  approach  of  the  philosopher. 
Hereupon  there  was  an  end  of  all  speeches,  resolu 
tions,  motions  and  committees.  With  one  accord,  the 
whole  assembly  resolved  itself  into  invisibility,  and 
separating  in  little  groups,  peeping  from  among  the 
grass,  or  in  the  whispering  branches  of  the  trees, 
awaited  the  approach  of  their  enemy.  The  philoso 
pher  came  walking  slowly  along,  pondering  on  the 
deplorable  ignorance  of  the  great  mass  of  mankind, 
who  had  no  other  grounds  of  belief  than  their  own  ex 
perience,  and  the  evidence  of  their  senses.  In  the  van 
ity  of  his  heart  he  plumed  himself  by  a  comparison  with 
those  beneath,  instead  of  those  above  him  and  forgot 
that  he  was  a  thousand  degrees  farther  below  Infinite 
Wisdom,  than  the  mass  of  mankind  was  below  himself. 


As  he  thus  passed  along,  his  attention  was  arrested 
by  the  ring  in  which  the  fairy  rout  had  just  been  hold 
ing  their  council.  "  Ah  !"  said  the  philosopher,  "  here 
is  one  of  the  evidences  of  human  folly  and  credulity. 
It  is  here  that  if  we  believe  the  vulgar,  the  fairies 
dance  their  merry  gambols  by  moonlight.  I  should 
like  to  see  them,  not  that  I  would  believe  it  if  I  did, 
for  such  a  conclusion  would  be  unphilosophical."  At 


this  moment,  the  fairies,  as  if  by  one  impulse,  assumed 
their  forms  again,  and  dashing  into  the  ring,  began 
dancing  an  airy  round,  with  all  their  tiny  might.  They 


crossed  hands,  twined  their  arms,  achieved  the  pigeon- 
wing,  the  partridge-run,  and  all  the  triumphs  of  the  art 
with  which  Celeste,  and  others  delight  the  refined  au 
diences  of  the  good  city  of  Gotham,  to  the  great  credit 
of  the  sex,  and  improvement  of  public  taste  and  morals. 
The  Persian  fairy,  emulated  the  feats  of  the  dancing 
girls  of  the  east ;  the  Scots  lassie  achieved  a  strathpsey; 
the  little  redhaired  Irish  sprite  capered  an  Irish  jig ; 
and  a  deputy  from  the  forest  of  Fontainebleau,  display 
ed  herself  in  a  style  that  some  of  the  more  discreet 
fairies  thought  not  quite  decent. 

Surely,  thought  the  little  rabble  rout,  this  will  be  suffi 
cient  for  this  unbelieving  sinner ;  he  cannot  doubt  the 
evidence  of  his  senses.  But  they  reckoned  without 
their  host.  The  philosopher  had  no  more  faith  in  his 
eyes  than  a  blind  man.  "  Verily,"  murmured  he,  aloud, 
"  some  ignorant  people,  the  dupes  of  their  five  senses, 
would  actually  believe  they  had  seen  what  I  have  seen, 
but  I  am  not  to  be  deluded  in  this  manner.  I  maintain 
that  the  existence  of  fairies  is  impossible,  and  that 
these  rings  so  far  from  being  made  by  them,  as  the 
vulgar  believe,  are  caused  by  lightning  or  mushrooms, 
or  toad-stools,  or  some  other  species  of  fungii — or 
something  or  other." 

"  It  is  false  !"  exclaimed  one  of  the  fairies  who  had 
taken  the  likeness  of  a  great  toad-stool. 

The  philosopher  gazed  around  him,  but  the  fairy 
rout  had  disappeared,  almost  despairing  of  converting 
this  unbeliever,  even  by  the  aid  of  the  Missionary  So 
cieties. 


"  Pooh  !"  said  he,  at  length,  "  here  is  another  proof 
of  the  delusion  of  the  senses.  If  I  were  as  ignorant 
and  superstitious  as  the  vulgar,  I  should  really  believe 
I  heard  some  one  contradict  me  ;  but  as  I  see  no  one, 
it  is  impossible  I  should  hear  any  one,  for,  that  invisi 
ble  beings  speak,  is  an  opinion  altogether  unphilosoph- 
ical." 

While  he  was  speaking  thus,  the  mushroom  gradu 
ally  expanded  till  it  grew  as  high  as  a  man,  and  as 
broad  as  an  umbrella,  and  advancing  towards  the  phi 
losopher,  covered  him  from  the  rays  of  the  sun  in  the 
politest  possible  manner. 


"  Strange,  "  said  he,  "  if  it  were  not  unphilosophical, 
I  should  be  almost  inclined  to  believe  what  I  see. 
Surely  I  have  fallen  asleep  and  am  dreaming,  or  am 
subjected  to  some  supernatural  influence."  Here  the 
philosopher  began  to  be  rather  vulgar,  for  he  was  re 
sorting  to  a  cause  to  account  for  his  present  state, 
which  he  could  not  prove  had  an  existence. 


His  obstinate  unbelief  provoked  the  fairies  almost  be 
yond  endurance.  "  By  the  holy  poker !"  cried  the  little 
Irish  sprite,  "  but  if  he  don't  believe  his  eyes,  I'll  try 
what  the  sense  of  feeling  will  do."  So  she  let  fly  a 
large  potato,  with  such  excellent  aim,  that  it  encoun 
tered  the  philosopher's  mouth,  which  was  just  opening 
to  continue  his  speculations,  and  knocked  out  two  of 
his  front  teeth,  which  to  be  sure  were  none  of  the 
soundest.  This  was  followed  by  a  shower  of  huge 
acorns,  potatoes  and  fairy  stones,  which  bruised  him 
sorely,  insomuch  that  he  essayed  to  screen  himself 
under  the  great  toad-stool.  But  it  all  at  once  vanished 
and  left  him  exposed  to  the  storm  of  missiles.  The 
philosopher  cried  out,  "  wonderful !  it  cannot  be,  it  is 

unphilosophical,  and  therefore  imposs "  the  word 

was  cut  short  by  a  discharge  of  fairy  stones,  which 
appealed  so  successfully  to  his  sense  of  feeling,  that 
he  actually  yielded  to  it  what  he  had  denied  to  the 
other  senses,  and  taking  to  his  heels  scampered  away 
towards  home,  followed  b^_a.  strange  laugh  which 
echoed  on  all  sides. 


The  philosopher  sat  himself  down  in  his  study,  and 
opening  his  huge  folio  of  arguments  against  the 
existence  of  these  troublesome  fairies,  soon  con 
vinced  himself  that  all  he  had  seen  and  heard,  was 
either  a  dream  or  a  deception  of  those  rascally  cheats 
the  five  senses.  u  It  is  impossible,"  said  he  ;  "  it  is 
much  more  philosophical  to  disbelieve  what  cannot  be 
proved  to  exist,  than  to  believe  what  is  unphilosophi- 
cal."  He  then  looked  in  the  glass,  and  discovered 
that  his  face  was  not  only  spotted  with  black  and  blue 
bruises,  but  that  two  of  his  front  teeth  were  missing. 
This  puzzled  him  not  a  little,  and  he  was  on  the  point 
of  going  forth  among  his  neighbours,  and  telling  the 
whole  story,  when  the  huge  folio  rose  up  against  him, 
and  he  resolved  to  preserve  his  consistency.  "  It  is 
of  no  consequence,'  thought  he,  "  whether  fairies  exist 
or  not ;  but  it  is  of  great  consequence  to  be  consistent." 
Accordingly  he  set  himself  to  work,  and  wrote  another 
book,  in  which  he  exemplified  the  credulity  of  the 
vulgar,  by  placing  a  poor  man  precisely  in  the  predic 
ament  through  which  he  himself  had  just  passed,  and 
attempted  to  explain  the  whole  on  philosophical  prin 
ciples. 

The  fairies  were  still  more  exasperated  than  ever, 
at  this  contumacy,  and  determined  to  be  revenged  in 
a  manner  before  unheard  of,  in  the  annals  of  fairy  land. 
But  while  they  were  debating  a  plan  for  this  purpose, 
in  which  not  two  of  them  could  agree,  the  philosopher 
saved  them  the  trouble.  The  result  of  his  cogitations 
on  the  adventure  of  the  fairy  ring,  was  a  determina- 


tion  to  believe  in  nothing  but  what  he  could  account 
for,  on  the  principles  of  science  and  philosophy,  and 
in  order  to  qualify  himself  for  the  great  task  of  separa 
ting  truth  from  error,  proceeded  forthwith  to  subject 
every  thing  he  saw  to  this  new  test  of  truth. 

The  first  thing  that  puzzled  him,  was  the  mystery 
of  his  own  existence,  which  he  attempted  to  demon 
strate  in  various  ways,  none  of  which  proved  satisfac 
tory.  The  consciousness  of  being,  he  considered  but 
a  poor  argument,  inasmuch  as  it  could  not  be  demon 
strated  ;  and  a  self-evident  fact  was  to  his  mind  no 
evidence  at  all.  At  length,  he  hit,  as  he  thought,  on  a 
most  satisfactory  solution,  in  the  shape  of  a  two-legged 
syllogism.  "  I  think,  therefore  I  exist,"  said  he.  But 
while  chuckling  over  this  discovery,  and  enjoying 
his  new-found  being,  the  demon  of  doubt  whispered, 
"  What  better  proof  have  you  of  your  thinking,  than  of 
your  existing  ?"  Whereupon  the  philosopher  relapsed 
into  doubt  again,  and  resolved  to  subject  the  matter  to 
the  test  of  actual  experiment. 

"  The  cessation  of  life,"  quoth  he,  "  is  the  best  proof 
of  having  once  existed.  I  will  die  to  satisfy  myself 
that  I  have  actually  lived."  Accordingly  he  adopted 
a  system  of  starvation,  which  being  slow  in  the  pro 
cess,  would  allow  him  an  opportunity  of  making  various 
philosophical  deductions,  as  to  the  phenomena  of  dy 
ing.  By  degrees  he  grew  both  hungry,  as  well  as 
thirsty,  and  was  sorely  tempted  to  eat  and  drink,  until 
he  reflected  that  he  could  not  actually  demonstrate 
that  he  was  either  one  or  the  other.  He  decided 


therefore,  that  it  would  be  quite  unphilosophical  to 
yield  to  an  imaginary  necessity.  By  degrees,  as  his 
weakness  increased,  the  keenness  of  his  sufferings 
diminished  in  proportion,  and  at  length  the  emaciated 
philosopher  became  thoroughly  convinced,  that  the 
sensations  of  hunger  and  thirst,  could  not  be  proved 
to  have  an  existence  by  any  genuine  philosophical  de 
duction  from  demonstrative  principles.  What  seemed 
the  more  to  convince  him  of  this,  was  the  conduct  of 
the  fairies  on  this  occasion.  In  order  to  fortify  him 
in  the  opinion  that  hunger  and  thirst  were  all  fancy, 
as  he  lay  almost  helpless  on  his  pillow,  with  misty 
eyes,  through  which  every  object  seemed  dancing  be 
fore  him  in  the  maze  of  visionary  uncertainty,  and  his 
brain  whirling  in  the  dizzy  mazes  of  madness,  they 
would  circle  in  airy  rounds  about  his  bed,  in  a  thou 
sand  fantastic  forms,  such  as  flit  before  the  eye  of  the 
nervous  patient,  in  huge  unnatural  deformity,  now 
towards,  and  anon  receding,  like  shadows  of  infernal 
growth.  If  the  philosopher  had  believed  the  evidence 
of  his  senses,  in  relation  to  his  being  hungry  or  athirst, 
he  would  have  been  obliged  for  the  sake  of  consisten 
cy,  to  give  credence  to  these  fantastic  images,  and  ac 
cordingly  he  settled  the  matter  by  disbelieving  in  both. 
At  length  he  was  reduced  to  the  last  extremity. 
He  became  a  shadow  in  form,  a  wreck  in  intellect. 
He  died,  and  the  last  gleam  of  intelligence  lighted 
forth,  in  these  trembling  words,  as  heard  by  the  "  good 
people,"  who  were  gathered  about  him,  enjoying  the 
spectacle  of  his  gradual  dissolution  : — "  I  am  satisfied 


now ;  but  what  a  pity  I  cannot  benefit  by  the  convic 
tion,  and  live  to  settle  this  long  mooted  question,  by 
demonstrating  in  my  death,  that  I  have  actually  exist 
ed."  Thus  the  fairies  were  revenged,  and  a  warning 
example  given,  of  the  deplorable  consequences  of 
doubting  the  evidences  of  our  own  senses,  most  es 
pecially,  in  regard  to  fairy  land. 


THE  HUNCHBACK 


AND  BEAUTY. 


LONG  WHILE  AGO 
in  a  certain  place,  which 
lies  at  a  great  distance 
from  any  other  spot  in  the 
known  world,  there  bub 
bled  forth  a  clear,  crystal 
spring,  in  a  charming  re 
cess  among  the  wooded 
hills.  It  was  more  than 
two  hundred  yards  around 
and  the  sands  at  its  bottom 
were  as  white  as  the  driv- 


en  snow .  The  waters  were 


more  transparent  than  those  of  Lake  George,  and  the 
little  air  bubbles  might  be  seen  shooting  upwards  from 
the  bottom  in  long,  bright,  spiral  streaks.     All  around 
was  quiet  and  repose,  tor  no  one  resided  there  but  the 
solitary   nymph,  whose   plaintive  voice  resounds  to 
every  call,  and  who  to  the  infinite  credit  of  her  sex, 
was  never  known  to  contradict  any  one,  even  when 
they  derided  her  beauty.     I  call  her  a  nymph,  in  re 
spect  to  classic  lore,  but  she  was  in  reality  a  Fairy, 
who  having  offended  one  of  greater  power,  by  main 
taining  the  superiority  of  black  eyes  and  black  hair, 
over   blue  eyes  and  yellow  hair,  caused  violent  com 
motion  in  fairy  land.     Two  great  parties  arose,  called 
the  black  and  blue  roses ;    one   comprehending  the 
black,  the  other  the  blue  eyes,  and  the  contest  was 
aggravated,  by  several  mischievous   poets,  who  ever 
and  anon,  composed  lamentable  ditties  in  praise  of 
their  favourite  colour.     At  length,  however,  the  blue 
eyes  being  the  most  numerous,  triumphed ;  and  in  a 
great  battle  in  which  eye-shot  Avere  used  for  the  first 
time,  and  with  fatal  effect,  defeated  their  adversaries 
in  the  most  signal  manner,  with  the  aid  of  several  en 
chanters  and  fiery  dragons,  which  they  had  seduced 
into  their  service  by  their  bright  eyes.     The  ringlead 
ers  among  the  black  eyes  were  severely  punished,  and 
the  fairy  who  had  first  denied  the  divinity  of  blue  eyes, 
being  of  a  contradictory  disposition,  as  well  as  some 
what  vain  of  her  beauty,  was  condemned  to  a  hundred 
years  of  invisibility,  with  the  additional  punishment 
of  never  contradicting  any  body. 


Mortified  and  saddened  to  the  heart,  the  Fairy  Echo, 
retired  disconsolate  into  the  solitudes  of  the  hills  and 
woods,  where  there  were  few  sounds  and  fewer  words 
to  repeat ;  for  since  she  could  not  contradict  any  one, 
she  preferred  silence  to  talking.  Her  favourite  resort, 
was  the  beautiful  spring,  for  though  she  was  invisible 


to  others,  she  could  see  herself,  and  her  chief  delight 
was  to  sit  and  admire  her  eyes  and  hair  in  the  bosom 
of  its  crystal  waters. 


Here  also  would  sometimes  come,  at  holiday  times, 
the  young  maidens  and  shepherdesses,  of  the  valley, 
to  dress  their  glossy  hair  with  flowers,  and  admire 
themselves  in  the  pure  mirror  which  nature  had  gra 
ciously  provided  for  the  gratification  of  their  innocent 
vanity.  This  was  before  the  invention  of  looking- 
glasses,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  this  spring,  and  the 
songs  of  the  shepherds,  accompanied  by  their  mellow 
oaten  reeds,  there  is  reason  to  fear  they  would  have 
remained  in  unhappy  ignorance  of  their  own  unequal 
led  beauties.  One  of  these  songs,  sung  by  the  shep 
herd  Daffadowndilly,  is  of  such  surpassing  obscurity 
as  to  merit  preservation,  seeing  that  if  a  man  could 
write  so  well  without  exactly  knowing  what  he  was 
saying,  how  much  better  would  he  have  done  if  he  had 
only  comprehended  himself. 

My  blue-eyed  maid  is  far  away, 

And  yet  is  ever  near  ; 
The  moon  and  stars  shine  not  by  day 

Nor  sun  by  night — that's  clear. 

Yet  were  my  lovely  blue-eyed  maid, 

But  absent  when  she's  near, 
The  anguish  of  my  heart  were  laid, 

Like  flowers  upon  a  bier. 

I  would  not  care  if  star  or  moon, 

Or  sun  shone  day  or  night, 
If  I  could  see  from  night  tojioon, 

My  own  blue  eye  of  light. 

Thus  when  a  thing  is  not  a  thing, 

And  rare  things  nothing  rare) 
A  king  is  nothing  but  no  king, 

And  blue  eyes  black  eyes  are. 


It  may  not  be  amiss  to  mention  that  at  this  moment 
the  Fairy  Echo,  who  had  not  only  been  obliged  to  lis 
ten  to,  but  repeat  the  panegyric  on  blue  eyes,  at  the 
conclusion  of  this  lucid  inspiration,  gave  Daffadown 
dilly  such  a  box  on  the  ear,  that  he  thought  his  brain 
had  exploded,  and  jumping  into  the  spring  would  cer 
tainly  have  been  drowned,  if  his  head  had  not  been 
somewhat  lighter  than  the  water. 

Among  all  the  rural  maids  who  visited  the  broad 
crystal  spring,  none  came  so  often,  staid  so  long,  and 
left  it  with  such  lingering  steps,  as  the  charming  daugh 
ter  of  old  Allaine,  the  richest  shepherd  in  all  the  coun 
try  round,  in  flocks  and  verdant  pastures,  where  the 
clover  blushed  its  rosy  red,  and  the  blue  grass  spread 
its  purple  riches  far  and  wide.  But  his  brightest  jew 
el  was  his  only  child,  the  lovely  Serene  Fair,  as  she 
was  aptly  called  by  her  godmother,  for  her  temper 
was  as  sweet,  as  her  face  and  form  were  beautiful. 
Her  eyes  and  hair  were  black,  shining  soft  and  glossy  ; 
her  voice  low  and  touchingly  melodious,  whether  she 
spake  or  sung ;  her  figure  all  graceful  from  the  hand 
of  nature  ;  and  the  pure  mirror  of  the  crystal  spring, 
never  reflected  any  thing  so  beautiful  as  when  Serene 
Fair,  bent  over,  and  dropt,  tears  into  its  bosom.  She 
was  a  great  favourite  of  the  Fairy  Echo,  for  she  had 
black  eyes,  and  hsr  voice  was  so  remarkably  sweet, 
that  Echo  delighted  in  repeating  her  song,  or  her  com 
plaints,  almost  as  much,  as  she  formerly  did  in  contra 
dicting  every  body.  One  of  her  favourite  songs  ran 
as  follows : 


AH!   WO  IS  ME,  TO  HAVE  TWO  LOVES, 

THAT  BACK  HAS  MADE  MY  HEART  HIS  PRIZE 
THE  FIRST  ALL  BEAUTY  BUT  A  FOOL, 
THE  NEXT  A  FRIGHT,  BUT  GOOD  AND  WISE. 

MY  EYES  AND  EABS  ARE  AYE  AT  STRIFE; 
I  SEE  THE  FOOL  AND  YIELD  MY  HEART, 
BUT  WHEN  HIS  LIPS  SUCH  NONSENSE  PRATE, 
I  SIGH,  AND  WISH  TO  PART. 

AND  WHEN  THE  OTHER  SPEAKS,  SUCH  STRAINS 
OF  WIT  AND  SENSE  MY  RAPT  EAR  HEARS  ! 
BUT  AH  !  THE  HUMP— THE  HUMP  REMAINS— 
MY  EYES  SUBDUE  MY  EARS. 

OH  !  WOULD  KIND  FAY  BUT  GRANT  THE  PRAYER 

WHICH  CRUEL  FATE  DENIES, 

GIVING  THE  FOOL  THE  CROOKED  BACK, 

THE  GENIUS  HIS  BRIGHT  EYES  ! 


As  the  damsel  finished  this  tender  ditty,  she  raised 
her  eyes  to  the  blue  firmament,  and  cast  such  bright 
gleams  upwards,  that  one  of  her  eight-and-forty  poet 
ical  admirers  recognised  them  in  a  new  constella 
tion  of  glittering  stars,  of  which  Venus  formed  the 
centre. 

By  degrees  she  became  so  accustomed  to  the  pres 
ence  and  voice  of  the  young  shepherdess,  that  Echo 
languished  when  she  was  away,  and  had  no  other  re 
source  in  her  loneliness,  than  the  endless  repetition 
of  her  songs  and  sayings.  The  fairy  grew  at  last  to 
love  her  dearly,  and  resolved  in  her  own  mind,  that 
when  restored  to  her  former  power,  and  above  all,  to 
the  privilege  of  opposing  and  contradicting  whenever 
she  pleased,  she  would  do  Serene  Fair  a  good  turn, 
let  her  cause  of  sorrow  be  what  it  might. 

At  the  same  moment  the  damsel  concluded  her  am 
orous  complaint,  the  spell  of  a  hundred  years  dissolv 
ed  by  its  own  limitation,  and  the  Fairy  Echo,  not  only 
recovered  the  power  of  becoming  visible,  but  the  priv 
ilege  of  contradiction.  Her  first  impulse  was  to  deny 
the  possibility  of  such  a  predicament  as  that  which 
Serene  described.  But  she  remembered  the  sweet 
solace  she  had  derived  so  often  from  hearing  and  re 
peating  the  complaining  songs  of  the  distressed  fair 
one  ;  and  when  the  latter,  on  seeing  her,  started  from 
her  sorrowful  reverie,  and  gazed  on  the  fairy  with 
eyes  of  speaking  admiration,  the  natural  kindness  of 
her  disposition  triumphed  over  long  habit,  and  she  ad 
dressed  the  damsel  as  follows :  for  her  exultation  at 


being  at  length  freed  from  the  spell  of  enchantment, 
made  her  feel  somewhat  poetical : 


GENTLE  FAIR  ONE,  TELL  ME  WHY, 

WITH  THAT  BRIGHT   AND   SPARKLING  BYE, 
THUS  YOU  WEEP  AND   FRET  AND   SIGH, 

TELL  ME  WHY? 


"Alas!   who  art  thou  that  askest  the  question?" 
said  Serene. 


• 

ECHO  !  ECHO  !  is  MY  NAME  ; 

,  IP  YOU  ASK  ME  WHENCE  I  CAME, 
I  ANSWER  NOT  MY  LITTLE  DAME, 

BUT  ECHO  is  MY  NAME. 


"I  have  often  heard,"  answered  Serene  Fair,  "but 
have  never  seen  thee  before.  Thou  livest  among  the 
lonely  solitudes  of  the  hills  and  vales,  and  repeatest 
every  thing  thou  hearest,  without  ever  contradicting  a 
single  word.  Thou  art  beyond  doubt  a  good-natured 
nymph  and  not  fond  of  talking  like  the  rest  of  thy  sex." 

"  Don't  calculate  too  much  on  my  silence  or  my 
good  nature,"  returned  the  fairy  smiling,  though  she 
had  it  on  the  very  tip  of  her  tongue  to  contradict  Se 
rene.  "  But  I  heard  thy  plaintive  song  just  now. 
Tell  me  the  cause  of  thy  unhappiness,  and  I  will  see 
if  I  cannot  find  a  cure.  I  owe  thee  much,  for  thou 
hast  been  the  solace  of  my  solitude  a  long  while  past. 
Tell  me  thy  sorrows,  ere  I  leave  this  spot  perhaps 
for  ever." 

"  Alas  !"  said  Serene,  "  to  what  purpose  should  I 
tell  thee.  My  lot  is  cast,  and  unless  thou  canst  instil 
wit  into  a  fool,  or  change  deformity  into  beauty,  it  will 
be  useless  for  me  to  to  tell  my  story." 

"  A  truce  with  this  nonsense,"  replied  the  fairy  a 
little  spitefully,  "  thou  knowest  not  my  power,  so  make 
an  end  of  thy  tale,  for  I  am  in  a  great  hurry,  and  can't 
bear  contradiction." 

The  damsel  obeyed  and  related  her  story.  She 
told  how  she  was  admired  and  followed  by  all  the 
shepherds  of  the  surrounding  country,  though  she 
blushed  at  this  appearance  of  vanity— and  how,  among 
the  rest,  Alvord  and  Daffadowndilly  were  her  most 
devoted  slaves.  That  the  former  was  the  wisest,  most 
virtuous  and  accomplished  of  all  the  young  shepherds, 


playing  delightfully  on  his  oaten  reed,  inditing  the 
most  charming  songs,  and  employing  himself  in  gain 
ing  useful  knowledge,  or  relieving  the  distresses  of 
others.  He  was  the  most  ardent,  yet  delicate  and  re 
spectful  of  lovers,  but,  alas  !  he  could  not  claim  to  be 
even  well-looking.  His  eyes  indeed,  were  sparkling, 
and  the  expression  of  his  face  full  of  goodness  and  in 
tellect,  but  he  had  a  hump  on  his  back,  and  "  you 
know,"  concluded  Serene,  "  that  spoils  every  thing." 
"  Bad  enough,  I  confess,"  said  the  fairy.  "  But  of 
the  youth  with  such  a 
fragrant  name." 

"O,"  said  Serene, 
"  he  is  the  most  beau 
tiful  of  all  the  shep 
herds  in  a  hundred 
miles  round.  His  blue 
eyes" — 

"  Pshaw !"  interrupted 

the  fairy — "  Blue  eyes— 

I  would  not  give  a  sin 
gle  sigh  for  a  blue  eyed 

lover.  I  dare  say  he  has 

not  sense  enough  to  go 

into  the  house  when  it 

rains." 

"  He  is  indeed  very  silly,"  said  Serene  blushing — 
"  but  then  he  is  so  beautiful.  He  is  tall  and  straight 
as  a  poplar,  his  cheeks  are  as  red  as  a  rose,  his  teeth 
are  like  ivory,  and  his  mouth  the  balmiest  in  the  world, 


though  I  grieve  that  nothing  comes  out  of  it  but  non 
sense,  sweetened  indeed  by  a  fragrance  like  that  of  a 
spring  morning." 

"  But  is  he  good-natured  and  kind-hearted  ?  for  after 
all  my  maiden  fair,  these  are  of  more  consequence  to 
a  wife  than  wisdom  and  beauty  in  a  husband.  His 
beauty  will  fade  in  a  time,  and  his  wisdom  is  for  him 
self  and  the  world.  But  his  good  temper,  is  every 
hour  exercised  towards  his  wife  and  children." 

"  Alas  !"  rejoined  Serene  Fair,  "  I  fear  he  is  not 
even  good-natured,  though  I  confess  he  is  a  fool.  He 
cannot  endure  a  reflection  on  his  looks,  is  careless  of 
hurting  the  little  insects  that  crawl,  or  fly  about,  and 
always  falls  into  a  passion,  or  becomes  pettish  when 
contradicted." 

"  What  not  bear  contradiction  ?"  exclaimed  the 
fairy,  "then  I'm  sure  he  won't  make  a  good  husband. 
You  must  discard  him  at  once." 

"  But  alas  !  shall  I  confess  to  you  that  I  cannot  find 
in  my  heart  to  do  it.  When  I  look  in  his  face,  my 
heart  yearns  towards  him  with  irresistible  feeling,  and 
it  is  only  when  he  opens  his  lips  to  speak,  or  attempts 
the  performance  of  an  act  requiring  ordinary  discretion, 
I  am  brought  to  the  conviction,  that  as  his  wife,  I 
should  blush  for  him  all  my  life.  In  pleasing  my  eyes 
I  shall  do  violence  to  my  judgement.  Assist  me,  0  ! 
fairy  with  thine  art.  Endow  the  fool  with  wisdom 
and  virtue,  or  the  hunchback  with  beauty." 

"  A  very  difficult  case,"  quoth  the  fairy,  and  straight 
way  fell  into  a  fit  of  musing,  during  which  Serene 


stood  trembling  with  anxiety.     At  length  the  fairy  re 
sumed. 

"  Wouldst  thou  that  I  endow  the  fool  with  wisdom 
and  virtue,  or  the  wise  youth  with  beauty  ?" 

The  damsel  was  puzzled.  She  blushed  deeply, 
and  her  bosom  palpitated  with  emotion.  But  soon 
her  determination  was  made. 

"  Let  the  beautiful  fool  become  wise,  witty  and  vir 
tuous,"  whispered  she,  at  the  same  time  covering  her 
face  with  her  hands,  as  if  ashamed  of  her  choice. 

"  It  cannot  be,"  rejoined  the  fairy.  «  The  feat  is 
beyond  my  power,  for  only  Omnipotence  can  bring 
forth  fruits  from  the  sands  of  the  desert.  I  cannot 
engraft  wisdom  on  folly,  or  plant  virtue  in  the  hollow 
heart.  Yet  this  I  can  do.  I  can  charm  away  the 
hump  of  the  wise  and  good  youth.  But  it  will  be  a 
work  of  time,  for  these  humps  are  obstinate  things. 
What  sayest  thou,  maiden  ?" 

Serene  pondered  for  awhile,  and  then  with  some 
thing  like  hesitation  assented  to  the  proposal.  The 
fairy  told  her  to  encourage  Alvord  and  Daffadowndilly 
to  visit  her  every  day,  bat  by  all  means  avoid  coquet- 
mg  with  either.  She  enjoined  on  her  to  listen  to  each 
with  attention,  to  con  over  their  sentiments,  and  com 
pare  their  thoughts  and  actions  on  every  occasion 
Meanwhile  she  herself  would  apply  a  charm  which 
would  assuredly  remove  the  hump  in  time,  if  Serene 
would  only  wait  with  patience. 

The  damsel  promised  with  rather  a  heavy  heart, 
and  the  fairy  stamping  with  her  foot  on  the  ground,' 


there  straightway  sprung  up  a  beautiful,  wide  spread 
ing  moss  rose,  whose  fragrance  perfumed  the  air  all 
around,  and  whose  profusion  of  ruddy  leaves,  afforded 
a  couch  of  unequalled  softness  as  well  as  beauty.  A 
flock  of  gorgeous  butterflies  of  every  hue,  were  har 
nessed  by  silken  cobwebs,  to  the  mossy  velvet  stems 
of  the  rosebuds  which  environed  the  centre  rose,  and 
the  fairy  flitting  lightly  into  the  recesses  of  the  leaves, 
buried  herself  in  the  luxury  of  the  morning  dews. 

"  Farewell  awhile,"  said  she,  "  remember  my  ad 
vice,  and  sometimes  think  of  one  who  will  always  be 
your  friend.  Perhaps  we  may  meet  again." 

The  butterflies  expanded  their  wings,  and  the  cha 
riot  rising  slowly,  ascended  out  of  sight,  leaving  the 
air  laden  with  the  most  delicious  odours. 


Serene  Fair  wended  her  way  towards  home,  buried 
in  thoughts  of  the  past  and  future.  As  she  slowly 
approached  the  rural  abode  of  the  good  old  shepherd 


her  father,  she  was  met  on  the  way  by  Alvord  and 
Daffadowndilly,  who  approached  her,  the  one  with 
eyes  sparkling  with  welcome,  the  other,  ever  and 
anon  glancing  his  admiring  looks  towards  his  own 
gay,  fantastic  apparel.  He  had  on  a  fine  new  suit, 
of  the  rarest  fashion,  for  vanity  abides  in  rural  shades, 
as  well  as  in  the  court  of  kings.  Alvord  was  plainly 
equipt,  for  he  knew  his  own  deformity,  and  that  fine 
clothes  would  only  make  it  more  conspicuous,  by  at 
tracting  the  eyes  of  the  beholder.  He  suffered  his 
rival  to  precede  him,  and  came  forward  with  that 
modest  deference,  which  the  slanderers  of  the  sex 
affirm  is  more  praised  than  admired  by  women. 

The  young  shepherdess  as  she  approached,  could 
not  help  admiring  Daffadowndilly,  who  indeed  looked 
the  personification  of  spritely  intelligence,  with  his  airy 
figure  and  blooming  cheeks.  She  thought  to  herself, 
"  Lord  !  how  could  I  ever  think  of  such  a  fright  as  that 
poor  hump-backed  Alvord,  with  all  his  wit  and  good 
ness.  To  be  sure  he  talks  like  an  angel,  but  after  all 
there  is  nothing  equal  to  looking  like  one." 

When  Daffadowndilly  came  up,  he  neither  blushed 
nor  stammered,  for  he  was  on  too  good  terms  with 
himself,  and  began  as  usual  to  tell  Serene  a  long  string 
of  little  nothings,  all  about  himself,  for  he  could  talk 
of  nothing  else,  at  the  end  of  which  he  skipped  away 
in  chase  of  a  butterfly.  Then  it  was  that  poor  Alvord 
ventured  to  approach  the  damsel,  who  at  first  was 
strongly  tempted  to  turn  away.  But  the  moment  he 
spake,  there  was  a  tuneful  melody  in  his  voice,  a 


breathing  harmony  in  its  tones,  and  a  witching  charm 
in  the  intelligence  of  all  he  uttered,  that  at  once  rivet 
ed  her  ear,  which  for  awhile  triumphed  over  her  eyes. 
He  seemed  to  forget  himself,  and  become  identified 
with  the  beauties  of  nature,  by  which  they  were  sur 
rounded.  He  dwelt  on  the  balmy  freshness  of  the 
zephyr  of  the  south ;  the  green  luxury  of  the  meadows ; 
the  azure  skies  j  the  glorious  lustre  of  the  setting  sun, 


and  the  sweet  concert  of  nature's  harmonies  that  filled 
the  air  all  around,  until  Serene  insensibly  forgot  his 
deformities,  and  listened  with  all  her  heart.  As  she 
heard  his  voice,  she  no  longer  saw  his  hump,  or  if 
seen,  it  seemed  but  a  trifle.  "  Surely,"  thought  she, 
"  the  charm  already  begins  to  work,  and  the  promise 
of  the  Fairy  Echo  will  be  fulfilled." 


As  they  strolled  forward  together,  the  conversation 
gradually  turned  from  nature  to  the  sources  of  her 
beautiful  phenomena.  Alvord  by  degrees  opened  her 
mind  to  these,  and  gradually  proceeded  upwards  in  the 
great  climax,  to  the  omnipotent  cause  of  all  things, 
until  the  soul  of  the  young  maiden  willingly  accompa 
nied  him  in  his  lofty  contemplations.  She  bent  her 
eyes  steadfastly  on  his  face,  and  saw  the  spirit  of  di 
vine  genius  that  sparkled  there,  associated  with  the 
charm  of  sincerity  and  virtue.  At  these  moments  she 
was  but  an  instrument  in  his  hands,  and  had  forgotten 
Daffadowndilly  entirely,  when  he  broke  on  this  com 
munion  of  souls,  with  loud  and  angry  exclamations. 

The  shepherd  and  the  maiden  started  from  a  deep 
reverie,  at  this  offensive  interruption,  and  looking  that 
way  perceived  the  handsome  youth  approaching  in  a 


most   melancholy   situatioluHe   was  covered  with 
mud,  and  his  gay  costume  exhibited  a  sorry  figure  ;  his 


light  curling  locks  distilled  the  brown  and  sluggish 
current  of  some  stagnant  pool,  which  as  it  ran  down 
his  face,  streaked  it  with  a  variety  of  unseemly  waving 
lines. 

The  first  feeling  of  Serene,  was  that  of  displeasure 
at  the  interruption ;  but  when  she  saw  the  doleful 
figure  approaching,  she  could  no  longer  be  angry, 
and  broke  into  laughter ;  whereat  Daffadowndilly  was 
exceeding  wroth,  and  approaching  still  nigher,  broke 
out  into  a  torrent  of  angry  reproaches ;  for  he  said 
he  had  come  by  this  sad  mishap  in  consequence  of  too 
eagerly  pursuing  the  beautiful  butterfly,  which  he  in 
tended  for  her.  "  And  for  all  this,  you  only  laugh  at 
me.  Well  I  shall  take  care  how  I  run  after  another 
butterfly  for  you,  I  warrant."  And  then  he  looked  at 
the  desolation  of  his  fine  new  suit,  while  the  tears 
came  into  his  eyes. 

Serene  now  heartily  despised  him  for  the  moment, 
for  the  spoiling  of  his  clothes,  the  dishevelling  of  his 
curling  hair,  and  the  vestiges  of  the  filthy  water  run 
ning  down  his  cheeks,  had  marred  all  his  beauty. 
She  turned  from  him  with  contempt,  and  taking  the 
arm  of  Alvord,  proceeded  towards  home,  followed  by 
Daffadowndilly,  who  was  in  the  worst  humour  imagin 
able.  He  did  nothing  but  grumble  at  the  ruin  of  his 
new  suit,  and  over  and  over  declared  that  he  was  sure 
he  had  caught  his  death  of  cold.  Happening  to  come 
across  a  poor  grasshopper,  he  crushed  it  with  his  foot, 
in  revenge  for  the  mischievous  consequences  of  the 
pursuit  of  the  butterfly. 


The  evening  was  now  approaching ;  the  long, 
beautiful,  soothing,  quiet  summer  twilight  was  fast 
dying  away,  and  they  had  wandered  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  abode  of  the  shepherd  Allaine.  A 
quick,  bright  flash  of  lightning,  passing  zig-zag  across 
a  black,  angry  cloud  in  the  west,  and  followed  on  the 
instant  by  a  crash  of  sharp  thunder,  roused  their  ap 
prehensions,  and  quickened  their  footsteps.  There 
was  nothing  save  a  cat  and  a  spider,  which  Daffa 
downdilly  feared  so  much  as  thunder,  and  his  first  im 
pulse  was  to  scamper  away  homeward  as  fast  as  pos 
sible.  But  he  stood  his  ground  manfully  through  two 
more  crashes,  and  until  a  third  came  so  tremendously 
loud  and  angry,  that  poor  Daffadowndilly  decamped 
full  speed,  saying,  as  he  ran  away,  that  his  mother 
would  die  of  fright,  if  he  was  caught  in  the  rain. 


The  storm  now  roared  at  a  distance,  and  no  shelter 
was  nigh.  Darkness  gradually  shrouded  the  earth  in 
shadowy  gloom  ;  the  peals  of  angry  thunder  coursed 
like  ministers  of  omnipotent  vengeance  across  the 
rattling  firmament  above  ;  the  innocent  s^eep  that  spot 
ted  the  long  valley  far  and  near,  and  the  rural  populace 
one  and  all  scampered  away  for  shelter  from  the  ap 
proaching  conflict  of  the  elements.  There  was  fear  in 
the  heart  of  man,  and  the  instinct  of  the  beasts  pointed 
of  the  coming  danger.  It  was  the  homage  of  all  nature 
to  her  God. 

Serene  hung  more  heavily  on  the  arm,  and  clung 
closer  to  the  side  of  Alvord,  who  felt  her  heart  throb 
against  him,  and  was  happier  than  he  had  ever  been 
before.  Alvord  knew  of  no  shelter  for  miles  around, 
for  the  long  valley  was  one  continued  meadow,  where 
the  shepherds  pastured  their  sheep,  and  they  all  dwelt 
in  a  beautiful  village  at  its  extremity. 

"  Is  there  no  shelter  nigh,"  at  length  panted  Serene 
who  was  gradually  sinking  with  fatigue  and  appre 
hension,  as  she  heard  the  whirlwind  roaring  in  the 
distance. 

"  None,"  replied  Alvord,  "  I  know  every  nook  and 
little  dell,  and  sheltered  solitude,  in  all  the  country 
round,  but  it  is  two  miles,  at  le^ast,  to  the  nearest 
house." 

"  What — what  shall  we  do  1  Ah !  the  heavens  are 
on  fire  and  the  last  day  is  come  !" 

"  Fear  not,  dearest  girl,"  said  Alvord,  as  he  press 
ed  the  hand  that  rested  on  his  arm,  closer  to  his  heart. 


"  Fear  not.  The  hand  of  Heaven  is  never  armed  against 
innocence  like  thine.  Fear  nothing.  The  lightning, 
the  thunder  and  the  rain,  are  the  ministers  of  benefi 
cence,  not  of  wrath.  Do  not  fear — do  not  de 
spair,  for  virtue  is  ever  its  own  shield,  and  thou  art 
virtuous." 

Still  they  heard  the  rain  and  the  wind  rushing  be 
hind  them,  swiftly  approaching  nigher  and  nigher,  and 
a  few  big  drops  gave  indication  of  their  speedy  coming. 
At  this  moment  the  strength  of  the  young  and  delicate 
shepherdess  failed ;  her  arm  slipped  from  that  of  her 
conductor,  and  ere  he  was  aware  of  it,  she  sunk  to 
the  ground.  The  shepherd  then  raised,  and  bore  her 
in  his  arms  athwart  the  verdant  meadows,  until  he 
came  to  the  foot  of  the  mountains  which  skirted  this 
delicious  valley  all  around,  separating  it  from  the  rest 
of  the  world.  As  ill  luck  would  have  it,  he  struck  the 
base  of  a  rugged  perpendicular  precipice  of  rocks, 
which,  while  they  barred  his  passage,  afforded  no  shel 
ter  from  the  coming  storm.  , 

He  was  now  brought  to  a  stand,  and  his  mind  set 
tled  in  the  resolution,  to  remain  where  he  was,  cover 
ing  the  shepherdess  with  his  coat,  as  well  as  he  could, 
and  thus  brave  out  the  pelting  storm.  She,  almost 
breathless  now,  clung  to  him  for  protection,  and  he,  in 
tones  that  were  never  afterward  forgotten,  assured  her 
his  life  was  bound  up  with  hers. 

At  this  moment  a  loud  and  deafening  roar  rose  on 
the  dead  silence  which  occupied  the  intervals  between 
the  crashes  of  thunder,  and  echoed  along  the  side  of 


the  rude  wall  of  rocks.  It  announced  the  approach 
of  one  of  those  hungry  and  furious  lions,  which  in  the 
days  of  pastoral  simplicity,  when  the  shepherds  bore 
no  arms,  used  to  haunt  these  rugged  mountains,  and 
often  in  the  dead  of  night,  and  most  especially  when 
the  storm  drove  man  and  beast,  shepherd  and  his  flock 
into  their  lair,  would  break  into  the  fold,  in  spite  of  the 
watchful  dogs,  and  despoil  him  of  the  fruits  of  a  whole 
life  of  pleasing  cares. 


Alvord  looked  in  the  direction  whence  the  sounds 
proceeded  and  could  distinguish,  when  the  momentary 
intermission  of  the  flashes  of  lightning  left  the  world 
in  dismal  darkness,  two  fiery  balls  at  the  distance  of  a 


few  inches  from  each  other,  whose  ceaseless  motion 
seemed  like  the  restless  flickering  of  lights  in  the 
breeze.  Well  he  knew  the  sound,  and  the  glaring 
fires,  and  now  he  began  to  despair  of  the  life  of  her, 
whom  the  danger  had  endeared  to  him  a  thousand  times 
more  than  ever ;  for  at  this  moment  she  lay  nestling 
in  his  bosom,  her  sense  of  delicacy  being  lost  in  over 
whelming  apprehension. 

The  glaring  balls  of  quivering  fire  approached  the 
spot,  where  the  shepherd  and  his  innocent  charge,  sat 
all  alone,  and  helpless,  for  Alvord  had  not  even  a  stick, 
or  a  stone  within  his  reach.  A  second  roar  of  the  hun 
gry  beast,  announced  his  being  close  at  hand,  when 
the  exhausted  Serene,  almost  dead  with  fright  and 
fatigue,  cried  out  in  despair. 

"Oh  that  the  kind  fairy  Echo  was  here!  Would  she 
would  come  !"  And  the  rocks  resounded  with  the 
music  of  her  plaintive  voice,  "  would  come — would 
come !"  followed  by  a  strain  of  music  so  sweet  and 
low,  that  it  seemed  more  like  a  sigh  than  a  sound,  and 
stilled  the  raging  elements  into  a  deathlike  repose. 
Even  the  hungry  lion  paused  a  little  while,  as  if  over 
awed  or  charmed  with  the  strain ;  but  straightway 
couched  for  a  deadly  spring.  Alvord  placed  himself 
before  Serene,  and  sternly  awaited  his  fate. 

"  Sweet  Echo,  come!"  faintly  exclaimed  the  shep 
herdess  ;  and  "  sweet  Echo,  come !"  answered  the 
dumb  rocks,  now  gifted  with  a  tongue.  At  that  critical 
moment,  something  flashed  brightly  through  the  gloom 
of  night,  and  fell  on  the  rock  at  the  feet  of  Alvord  with 


a  ringing  sound.  He  snatched  at  it,  and  found  within 
his  grasp,  a  trusty  sharp-pointed  blade.  "  Now  fear 
thee  not,  my  own  dearest  maiden !"  but  she  heard  him 
not,  her  senses  were  locked  in  oblivion. 

In  the  midst  of  the  furious  uproar  of  the  elements,  a 
contest  commenced  between  the  hungry  beast  and  the 
intrepid  shepherd,  while  the  fainting  maiden  was 
gradually  recovering  to  a  sense  of  her  situation.  By 
the  flashes  of  lightning  she  could  sometimes  see  what 
was  going  forward,  and  her  ears  ever  and  anon,  con 
veyed  to  her  the  pantings  of  Alvord,  and  the  threatening 
growls  of  the  enraged  lion.  She  clasped  her  hands 
and  called  on  the  fairy  for  assistance,  but  Echo  only 
repeated  her  cries. 


At  length,  after  a  tedious  contest,  the  shepherd,  in 
stepping  suddenly  backward  to  avoid  the  spring  of 
the  lion,  stumbled  and  fell  on  the  rock.  The  furious 
beast  now  sure  of  his  prey,  placed  his  huge  forepaws 
on  the  breast  of  Alvord,  and  gave  the  death-growl, 
which  startled  the  silence  of  night,  and  roused  the 
shepherd-dogs  for  miles  around.  At  this  moment  of 
imminent  peril,  Alvord,  made  one  last  desperate  effort, 
and  shortening  his  sharp-pointed  weapon,  thrust  it  with 
all  his  remaining  strength  up  to  the  hilt  into  the  breast 
of  the  animal.  It  reached  his  heart  and  he  fell  with  a 
horrid  yell  on  the  body  of  the  shepherd,  covering  it 
with  a  deluge  of  smoking  blood. 

Unable  to  release  himself  with  all  his  efforts,  Alvord 
lay  panting  and  struggling  in  the  slippery  blood  of  the 
expiring  beast,  until  Serene,  mustering  all  her  remain 
ing  strength  and  courage,  came  to  his  relief  and  by 
her  assistance,  at  length  extricated  him,  saturated  with 
blood.  "Ah!  Alvord,"  cried  she,  "you  have  saved 
my  life."  "  Dear  Serene,"  he  replied,  "  you  have 
repaid  the  service  as  soon  as  it  was  rendered." 

At  this  moment  the  dark  clouds  opened  their  bosoms 
and  the  full  orbed  moon  shone  forth  in  all  her  mellow 
beauties,  silvering  the  landscape  far  and  wide,  and 
leading  along  a  train  of  twinkling  stars,  fit  attendants 
on  the  queen  of  night.  A  strain  of  aerial  music,  float 
ing  in  the  balmy  air,  and  coming  they  knew  not 
whence,  fell  sweetly  on  their  charmed  ears,  and  in 
the  voice  which  warbled  the  following  song,  the  shep 
herdess  recognised  that  of  the  fairy  Echo. 


Speed,  speed  away 
O'er  the  meadows  gay ; 
The  moon  is  overhead, 
The  stars  their  glories  shed 
Speed,  speed  away. 


Good  night,  good  night; 
Dream  of  delight 
And  rest  as  sweet  as  I, 
While  in  poppy  leaves  I  lie, 
Sleeping  without  a  lullaby, 
Good  night,  good  night. 


And  looking  upward,  they  saw  the  fairy  in  her 
chariot  of  moss  roses,  drawn  by  troops  of  gilded  but 
terflies,  slowly  gliding  over  the  summit  of  the  dark 
gray  rocks,  and  disappearing  behind  the  inaccessible 
barrier. 


Straightway  they  bent  their  course  towards  the 
abode  of  Serene  Fair,  guided  by  the  bright  lustre  of 
the  moonbeams,  and  all  the  way  the  affrighted  shep 
herdess  clung  closer  and  closer  to  the  side  of  Alvord. 
If  the  glowworm  suddenly  lighted  his  little  lamp  at 
her  feet,  she  would  cling  to  his  arm  for  safety,  and 
when,  on  one  occasion,  a  huge  beetle,  buzzed  heedless 
ly  in  her  face,  she  silently  clung  around  his  waist  for 
support.  Her  heart  overflowed  with  grateful  confi 
dence,  and  she  never  once  remembered  the  hump  on 
the  back  of  the  shepherd. 

The  aged  father  of  Serene  was  rejoiced  beyond 
measure  at  the  return  of  his  only  child,  unharmed  ; 
and  when  she  told  him  of  the  obligations  he  lay  under 
to  Alvord,  he  embraced  him  with  tears  in  his  eyes, 
and  called  him  his  son.  Sweet  rest  had  they  all  that 
night,  save  now  and  then,  the  shepherdess  would 
dream  of  the  lion,  and  call  on  Alvord  for  help. 

The  next  time  Serene  Fair  saw  her  preserver,  she 
was  struck  with  the  diminution  of  the  odious  hump. 
It  seemed  now  scarcely  more  than  a  little  roundness 
of  the  shoulder,  and  she  said  to  herself,  "  the  spell  of 
the  fairy  is  doing  its  work.  How  handsome  he  will 
be,  without  that  mountain  on  his  back !"  While  con 
versing  together,  with  feelings  inseparably  entwined 
together  by  the  recollection  of  benefits  conferred 
and  received ;  recalling  the  dangers  of  the  preceding 
night,  and  anticipating  the  approaching  festival  of  May 
Day,  so  hallowed  by  the  young  shepherds  and  shep 
herdesses  in  the  long  past  times  of  pastoral  simplicity, 


the  existence  of  which  is  wickedly  denied  by  the  world 
ly-minded,  who  should  they  see  but  Daffadowndilly 
come  pranking  along  over  the  clover  fields,  in  a  new 
suit,  as  gay  and  conceited  as  ever.  He  approached 
without  a  blush,  for  I  have  observed  that  meanness 
and  cowardice  are  always  accompanied  by  uncon 
sciousness  of  their  own  delinquency,  and  totally  di 
vested  of  the  sense  of  shame. 

The  blood  of  Alvord  coursed  tumultuously  through 
his  veins  as  he  saw  him  thus  coming  up  with  an  air  of 
perfect  self-possession,  as  if  unconscious  of  his  degrada 
tion  ;  and  Serene  at  first  felt  inclined  to  treat  him  with 
ineffable  contempt.  But  the  fresh  air  of  the  morning 
had  thrown  such  a  rich  carnation  over  his  cheek ;  he 
walked  so  trim  and  straight,  and  his  bright  hair  curled 
so  beautifully  over  his  white  forehead,  that  in  a  little 
while  she  caught  herself  contrasting  his  broad  straight 
shoulders,  with  the  hump  of  Alvord,  which  now  seem 
ed  to  have  resumed  more  than  its  wonted  deformity. 
She  sighed  as  she  uttered  a  fervent,  wish  that  the  Fairy 
Echo  could  have  made  Daffadowndilly,  as  wise  and 
brave,  as  he  was  handsome. 

But  this  was  only  the  weakness  of  a  moment,  and 
the  recollection  of  the  kindness  and  courage  of  the 
one,  contrasted  with  the  peevish  selfishness,  and 
despicable  cowardice  of  the  other,  at  once  reinstated 
the  former  in  the  supremacy  of  her  judgement,  if  not 
of  her  heart.  The  silly  youth  uttered  a  hundred  non 
sensical  fooleries,  and  exhibited  a  combination  of  ig 
norance  and  conceit,  such  as  he  had  often  done  before, 


but  which  the  shepherdess  had  never  found  so  tiresome 
and  disgusting.  Alvord  longed  to  tweak  his  nose  for 
his  impertinence,  but  his  contempt  overcame  his  indig 
nation,  and  he  suffered  him  to  exhibit  his  follies  at  full 
length  without  interruption.  This  indeed  was  his 
wisest  policy,  for  this  interview  proved  decisive,  and 
from  that  hour  Serene  felt  inexpressible  disgust  when 
ever  Daffadowndilly  approached  her.  The  fool  did 
not  know  what  to  make  of  it,  and  his  astonishment  at 
the  rebuffs  he  met  with,  was  so  ludicrous,  that  the 
shepherdess  could  sometimes  scarcely  restrain  herself 
from  laughing  in  his  face.  In  the  end,  however,  he 
consoled  himself  by  ascribing  it  all  to  jealousy  at  his 
coquetting  with  the  other  shepherdesses  of  the  valley. 


\ 


The  first  of  May  was  now  at  hand,  and  the  lads  and 
lasses  were  all  on  tiptoe  for  the  doric  festival,  conse 
crated  to  rural  simplicity  and  unaffected  happiness. 
In  the  few  days  that  intervened,  Serene  and  Alvord 
had  been  together  often  and  long  ;  the  shepherd  was 
one  of  those  fortunate  beings,  who  improve  on  ac 
quaintance,  and  the  prediction  of  the  fairy  seemed  on 
the  point  of  being  fulfilled,  for  the  hump  had  almost 
entirely  disappeared.  The  eye  of  Alvord  sparkled 
brighter  than  ever  with  hope,  and  the  pride  of  antici 
pated  success  gave  ease  as  well  as  dignity  to  his 
deportment.  Confidence  gives  new  graces  to  real 
worth,  while  it  only  communicates  additional  deform 
ity  to  folly  and  pretence. 

But  the  merry  morn  of  May,  and  the  birthday  of 
Serene  Fair,  was  come.  The  flowers,  the  zephyrs, 
and  the  warblers  of  spring,  now  all  joined  in  happy 
harmony  to  add  to  the  charms  of  the  opening  year, 
while  the  delicate  and  fresh  tints  of  the  grass  and 
leaves,  reminded  the  beholder  of  the  virgin  purity  and 
tenderness  of  a  young  damsel,  just  beginning  to  in 
dulge  some  dim,  far-distant  visions  of  the  great  pur 
pose  of  her  creation,  namely,  to  love  and  be  loved. 
Blithe  were  the  lads  and  lasses,  blithe  the  chirping 
brood  of  many-coloured  insects  among  the  grass  and 
flowers,  and  blithe  all  nature  in  her  new  spring  livery. 
The  scene  and  the  season  were  made  for  love,  and  to 
love,  they  were  now  consecrated  by  the  gentle  tenants 
of  the  shepherds'  valley. 

Alvord  was  up  betimes,  and  placing  himself  beneath 


the  vine-encircled  window  of  the  beautiful  maid,  tuned 
his  oaten  reed,  and  roused  the  twittering  birds,  who 
replied  to  his  lay,  in  a  mingled  variety  of  harmonies. 
Serene  was  not  quite  ready  to  come  forth ;  she  was 
employed  in  decking  herself  for  the  Festival  of  May  ; 
being  resolved  not  to  be  outdone  by  any  of  the  rival 
shepherdesses.  While  thus  occupied,  the  shepherd 
strove  to  speed  her  lagging  with  a  rural  serenade  he 
had  composed  expressly  for  the  occasion. 


Arise,  arise  i  bright  maid,  the  merry  morn 
Is  up  before  you,  blooming,  fresh,  and  fair ; 
Come,  see  the  dew,  the  sparkling  meads  adorn, 
And  sweeten  with  your  breath,  the  morning  air. 
Arise !  let  us  abroad,  and  keep  the  day 
That  first  gave  birth  to  you  and  rosy  May. 

Come  forth  like  spring-time,  genial,  fresh,  and  green. 

The  mom  is  out  of  patience  with  your  stay ; 

And  if  you  wait  for  gems  or  silken  sheen, 

"Will  give  her  precious  jewels  all  away. 

The  leaves  will  sprinkle  diamonds  as  we  stray, 

And  if  you  lack  a  blush,  we'll  borrow  it  of  May. 

The  shepherd  boys  and  girls  are  up  and  gone ; 
Time  passes,  youth  is  fleeting  as  the  dew ; 
Arise,  my  Fair,  ah !  leave  me  not  alone, 
While  birds  have  mates,  and  lads  and  lasses  too : 
Arise,  arise  l  my  Pair,  and  keep  the  day, 
Of  the  twin  sisters,  thou,  and  rosy  May. 


Serene  was  touched  with  this  simple  ditty,  and  as 
she  at  length  came  forth  like  the  goddess  of  morning, 
blushing  rosy  red,  she  was  more  than  ever  struck  with 
the  new-born  symmetry  of  Alvord's  figure.  There 
was  no  hump  to  be  seen,  and  the  spell  of  the  fairy  had 
done  its  work.  As  they  sauntered  slowly  towards  the 
scene  of  the  rural  festival,  their  hearts  communed  with 
each  other  in  that  unbounded  confidence  which  is  the 
fruit  of  the  rich  soil  of  love  alone,  and  the  eyes,  if  not 
the  lips  of  Serene,  more  than  once  disclosed  the  secret 
of  her  affections. 

Dancing,  sportings,  music,  songs,  and  tales  of  love, 
gave  zest  to  the  scene,  to  which  nature  lent  all  her 
matchless  harmonies,  of  genial  airs,  meads  enamelled 
with  flowers,  soft  murmuring  streams,  and  deep  shady 
woods,  where  the  shepherd  might  tell  his  tale  of 
love,  unseen  and  unheard^  save  by  one  alone.  Serene 
Fair  was  unanimously  elected  Queen  of  May,  and 
when  it  behoved  her  to  choose  a  King,  Daffadown 
dilly  was  utterly  confounded  to  see  her  give  her  hand 
to  the  young  shepherd  Alvord.  He  adopted  an  inde 
scribable  grimace,  shrugged  up  one  shoulder,  and  forth 
with  paid  his  devoirs  to  the  next  most  beautiful  shep 
herdess,  being  determined  to  be  gloriously  revenged. 

At  that  moment,  the  air  became  redolent  of  the  fra 
grance  of  the  rose,  and  all  the  rural  company  breathed 
of  nothing  but  delicious  odours.  The  fairy  Echo  ap 
peared  in  the  air,  seated  in  the  ruddy  recesses  of  her 
moss-rose  chariot,  and  approaching  Serene  Fair,  ad 
dressed  her  as  follows  : — 


"  The  spell  has  done  its  work ;  the  deformity  is 
removed,  and  long  years  of  happiness  await  the  youth 
who  essayed  to  cultivate  his  mind  and  his  heart,  rather 
than  follow  the  barren  paths  of  vanity  and  folly.  Let 
me  join  your  hands  and  give  you  my  blessing,  for  we 
shall  not  meet  again,  except  you  require  my  aid,  which 
I  foresee  you  never  will,  for  you  have  built  your  hap 
piness  on  the  solid  foundation  of  worth  and  intellect." 
The  good  fairy  then  ascended  her  chariot,  and  sailing 
through  the  air,  disappeared  high  in  the  heavens. 

Old  Allaine  blessed  the  choice  of  his  darling  child, 
and  lived  many  years  of  happiness,  in  contemplating 
the  bliss  of  Serene  and  Alvord.  The  latter  grew  more 
handsome  every  passing  day,  and  Serene  Fair,  while 
her  heart  throbbed  with  gratitude  to  the  fairy  for  her 
powerful  spell,  never  discovered  that  the  transformation 
was  wrought  by  the  magic  of  virtue  alone. 


THE  NAMELESS 


OLD  WOMAN. 


a  certain 

gear  ujfjtclj 

£as  teen  unac* 

countable  lost  in  tije 

contusion  fcrcupjt  afcout        Wi  \ 

&2  tfje  Keto  Stale ;  iit  a  cer* 

tatn  monttj  not  to  te  fonntr  in 

tje  ®alentrert  an&  on  a  m* 

tain  Irav  vofjirti  a  long         JH||  '| ( 

time  ago  sltjjpeH  »/  9|  ^\\ 

iw  ,\  j     ui  \ 
''**)  ^y 

w^^,^°   x-^,         ••*»»*«  y         ,^/v^s 

BW&.J?, 


ir:i 


out  of  t$etoeefe 
ano  ran 


,w 


<5>iT  CSe^^^lE  toao  so  little 
ttjat  a  man  once  taal&eU  ober  tuttfjont  serins 


there  lived  an  honest,  industrious  gardener.  He  was 
well  known  at  Smith's  Fly,  and  divers  other  places, 
where  the  burgomasters  and  citizens  were  wont  to 
come  bright  and  early  in  the  morning  to  buy  cabbages 
and  the  like. 

Rinier,  for  that  was  the  only  name  he  was  ever 
known  by  —  was  a  hard  working  man,  insomuch 
that  he  sometimes  laboured  on  Sunday,  before  the 
sun  rose  ;  and  as  saving  as  the  mother  that  bore  him, 
who  it  is  related  actually  darned  her  old  man's  breech 
es,  till  nobody  could  tell  the  colour  of  the  cloth.  But 
a  man  may  love  money,  though  he  will  not  sell  his 
soul  for  it ;  and  Rinier  was  an  honest  creature  though 
he  was  once  accused  by  an  old  woman,  who  spent 
two  hours  every  morning,  beating  down  the  price  of 
parsnips,  of  having  sold  her  a  cabbage,  instead  of  a 
cauliflower ;  which  I  verily  believe  was  a  great  false 
hood  ;  for  he  was  as  honest  as  daylight,  though  he 
got  all  he  could,  and  gave  nothing  away,  not  even  the 
peeling  of  an  onion.  The  most  signal  act  of  his  life, 
was  raising  such  a  great  cabbage,  as  caused  much  stir 
in  the  city,  and  out  of  which,  old  George  Schmelzel, 
the  Grand  Krout,  made  a  barrel  of  sour  krout.  But, 
as  there  was  not  at  that  time,  a  single  editor  of  a 
newspaper  to  send  it  a  present  to,  Rinier  was  defraud 
ed  of  the  fame  he  might  otherwise  have  gained,  and 
the  fact  is  now  only  known,  to  a  few  of  the  learned 
who  are  curious  in  such  matters. 

Being  a  native  of  old  Faderland,  he  ever  preserved 
an  affection  for  the  soil  of  his  birth,  which  he  mani- 


fesfed  by  a  singularly  strict  observance  of  the  venerable 
customs,  and  becoming  dress  of  his  ancestors,  which 
he  practised  and  adopted  with  commendable  regular 
ity  and  perseverance.  Most  especially  he  did  signal 


ize  himself  by  a  heroic  attachment  to  Christmas  and 
New  Year  observances,  and  to  the  rites  of  the  most 
excellent  St.  Nicholas,  of  thrice-blessed  memory.  He 
never  failed  to  celebrate  these  glorious  anniversaries 
in  a  manner,  which  the  degenerate  descendants  of  the 
ancient  Hollanders,  of  the  present  time,  would  do  well 
to  bear  in  mind  and  imitate.  For  these  reasons,  he 
was  well  respected  by  the  Saint  ;  who  would,  how 
ever,  have  liked  him  much  better,  had  he  not  been 
such  a  close-fisted  fellow. 


who  was  his  great  rival  in  trade — she  in  like  man 
ner,  dealing  in  vegetables  and  garden  truck,  which  she 
carried  to  market  every  morning.  She  was  a  little 
ugly  thing,  as  ever  put  a  man  out  of  conceit  of  matri 
mony,  and  had  been  one  principal  cause  why  Rinier 
continued  a  bachelor.  For  when  he  saw  her  sharp 
nose,  and  chiri,  her  monstrous  wide  mouth,  and  heard 
her  shrill  voice,  of  a  cold  frosty  morning,  he  thought 
to  himself,  "  By  donder  dag,  if  I  had  such  a  wife,  I 
would  jump  into  the  Collect."  Nobody  would  buy 
any  article  of  her  in  market,  when  they  could  get  it  of 
any  body  else,  and  there  she  would  sit  every  morn 
ing  till  all  the  market-women,  and  Rinier  among  the 
rest,  had  sold  out,  and  gone  home  rejoicing. 


This  excited  her  envy  and  malice  against  every 
body,  but  most  especially  her  nearest  neighbour  Rini- 
er,  for  I  have  always  observed,  that  people  envy  or 
hate  one  another,  just  in  proportion  to  their  nearness. 
Like  poison  vines,  these  bad  passions  only  extend 
their  deadly  influence  to  those  who  touch  or  come 
near  them.  So  the  old  woman  was  more  spiteful  to 
wards  Rinier,  only  because  their  gardens  adjoined 
each  other,  and  she  could  not  look  out  of  her  window, 
without  seeing  him.  My  readers  I  hope  will  not  get 
out  of  patience  with  these  observations,  seeing  it  is 
always  my  desire,  in  these  my  laborious  lucubrations, 
to  mingle  morality  and  instruction,  with  amusement 
and  recreation. 

The  old  woman  whose  name  I  shall  not  disclose, 
for  fear  of  hurting  the  feelings  of  her  descendants  now 
living  and  flourishing  in  the  city ;  and  who,  I  wish 
with  all  my  heart,  had  been  a  man,  that  I  might  detail 
her  enormities  without  offence  to  the  sex  I  have  ever 
held  in  special  love  and  veneration — the  old  woman, 
I  say,  came  at  last  to  hate  Rinier  mortally,  and  see 
ing  him  one  day — for  she  watched  him  as  a  cat  does 
a  mouse — counting  a  great  heap  of  guilders  he  had 
amassed  together,  determined  to  be  revenged  on  him, 
for  his  unmerited  prosperty.  But  I  must  take  in  sail, 
meaning  that  I  must  use  fewer  words,  or  I  shall  never 
get  to  the  end  of  my  story. 

She  began  by  poisoning  his  pigs,  debauching  the 
affections  of  his  favourite  cat,  killing  his  young  chick 
ens  when  she  could  get  a  fair  chance,  by  feeding  them 


with  crusts  of  hard  bread,  which  stuck  fast  in  their 
crops,  and  practised  divers  other  devices  too  tedious 
to  mention.  But  for  all  this,  Rinier  continued  to 
prosper ;  and  her  spite  and  malice  increased  with 
his  store  of  guilders,  which  she  could  see  him  count 
ing  every  day. 


Thereupon,  she  determined  in  her  own  mind,  to 
try  some  more  effectual  means  of  revenging  herself 
on  the  poor  man,  whose  only  offence  was,  his  good 
success  in  the  world.  She  worried  her  very  soul  out, 
to  find  a  way  to  be  even  with  the  splutterkin,  as  she 
called  him,  and  at  last  hit  on  a  mode  she  thought 
could  not  fail.  She  made  up  her  mind  to  become  a 
witch,  and  forthwith  carried  her  resolve  into  execution, 
by  setting  out  on  a  pilgrimage  to  the  good  town  of 
Naumkeag,  where  the  witches  had  lately  made  their 


appearance  in  considerable  numbers.  Accordingly, 
giving  out,  that  she  was  going  to  visit  her  relations 
at  Coxsackie,  she  set  forth,  embarking  in  a  sloop 
from  Martha's  Yineyard,  paying  a  fathom  of  wampum 
beforehand  for  her  passage.  Captain  Jonathan  Doo- 
little  looked  rather  suspicious  about  taking  her  on 


board,  but  was  pacified  by  the  prompt  payment  of  her 
passage-money.  "I'll  be  darned,"  said  he,  "if  she 
don't  look  jist  like  some  of  them  old  creturs  they  hung 
for  witches  t'other  day  at  Naumkeag." 


The  suspicions  of  Captain  Doolittle,  were  strength 
ened  by  the  behaviour  of  his  vessel  on  the  voyage. 
She  minded  her  helm  no  more  than  if  there  was  no 
rudder  at  her  tail ;  sometimes  floating  side,  and  some 
times  stern  foremost ;  and  when  they  came  to  go 
through  Hell  Gate,  she  cut  such  unaccountable  capers, 
running  first  for  the  Hog's  Back,  then  into  the  Fry 
ing  Pan,  and  then  into  the  boiling  Pot,  that  Jonathan 
thought  the  Old  Boy  had  got  on  board  the  good  sloop 
Puttaquappuonckquame,  as  she  was  called,  after  a 
great  Narraganset  chief,  who  sold  all  his  land  for  ten 
fathoms  of  wampumpeag. 

The  sloop  was  nine  days  getting  to  the  mouth  of 
Connecticut  river,  where  they  fell  into  such  a  desperate 
calm  as  the  Captain  had  never  seen  before,  and  the 
sun  shone  so  hot,  that  an  old  rooster,  who  had  made 
sixty  odd  voyages  with  him,  stuck  fast  in  the  melted 
tar,  with  which  the  seams  of  the  deck  were  filled, 
where  he  stood  cackling  and  flapping  his  wings,  in 
great  tribulation.  The  Captain  whistled  Yankee 
Doodle  ;  the  mate  stuck  a  jack  knife  in  the  mast,  and 
the  cook  threw  a  pewter  spoon  overboard,  as  an  offer 
ing  to  Davy  Jones,  which  Jonathan  called  a  tarnation 
waste.  But  all  would  not  do.  The  good  sloop  Put 
taquappuonckquame,  lay  like  a  dead  thing,  on  the 
waste  of  waters,  while  all  the  live-long  day,  and  day 
after  day,  the  sun  darted  his  hot  beams  upon  deck,  as 
if  he  meant  to  set  the  vessel  on  fire. 

Captain  Doolittle  began  to  smell  a  rat,  and  his 
suspicions  concerning  the  old  woman,  made  great  pro- 


gress  to  windward.  "  I  hadn't  ought  to  take  that 
darnation  old  cretur  aboard,  for  she  doos  look  more 
like  a  witch,  than  any  white  woman,  I  ever  did  lay 


my  eyes  on."  Upon  this,  and  the  calm  continuing 
more  hopeless  than  ever,  the  Captain  consulted  with 
the  crew,  each  one  of  which,  was  a  part  owner,  and 


it  was  resolved  to  make  trial  of  the  old  woman,  by 
throwing  her  overboard,  according  to  law.  "  If  she 
swims,"  quoth  Captain  Doolittle,  "  tJie  thing  is  as 
clear  as  grit ;  if  she  sinks,  the  Lord  have  marcy  on 
her  soul.  Man  is  a  fallible  being,  and  can't  know 
every  thing."  "  Yes,"  said  the  black  cook,  who  owned 
one  ninety-ninth  of  the  vessel — "  Yes,  Capin  Doolit 
tle,  you  right  one  time  any  how.  If  Masser  Gor- 
A mighty  want  us  toe  de  chalk  all  de  time,  I  tink  he 
mought  as  well  gie  us  a  leetle  more  gumption." 

While  they  were  all  ready  to  put  this  righteous 
judgement  into  execution,  luckily  for  the  old  woman, 
a  fine  fair  breeze  sprung  up,  and  all  sail  being  set,  the 
vessel  ploughed  her  way  towards  home,  as  if  she  had 
become  tired  of  lying  still  so  long.  This  lucky  event 
saved  the  old  woman  for  that  time,  though  the  black 
cook  considered  it  only  another  proof  of  her  being  a 
witch.  He  insisted  she  saw  into  their  design,  and 
raised  the  wind,  just  as  she  had  laid  it,  to  suit  some 
of  her  diabolical  purposes.  It  is  doubtful  what  had 
been  her  fate,  had  not  the  wind  suddenly  increased  to 
a  gale,  which  soon  occupied  all  hands  in  taking  in  sail 
and  shutting  the  hatches.  "The  old  sinner  is  at  work 
agin,"  quoth  Captain  Doolittle,  "  but  never  mind,  I'll 
fix  her  before  the  gander  turns  into  goose-pie." 

But  alas !  Captain  Doolittle  never  lived  to  carry 
his  threat  into  execution.  The  gale  swelled  to  a  tem 
pest  ;  the  darkness  increased,  as  if  another  night  had 
fallen  on  the  back  of  midnight ;  (as  a  great  orator  once 
said  ;)  the  lightning  created  new  darkness,  and  the 


thunder  which  raved,  and  rattled  overhead,  was  lost 
in  the  roar  of  the  winds  and  waves,  that  alone  made 
themselves  heard  in  the  strife  of  the  elements.  "  Cap- 
in,"  said  the  black  cook,  "  what  you  gie  for  my  share 


I 


of  de  Puttaquappaonekquame  ?  I  sell  out  cheap  now." 
Captain  Doolittle  pricked  his  ears,  and  smelling  a  spec 
ulation,  offered  him  about  one  twentieth  of  its  value. 
"  Done !"  cried  the  cook.  "  A  bargain !"  cried  the 
other,  and  just  at  that  moment,  a  great  shock  struck 
them  both  flat  on  the  deck. 


The  sloop  had  run  on  a  reef,  and,  being  somewhat 
more  than  the  age  of  Methusaleli — that  is  compara 
tively  speaking— for  she  was  the  oldest  on  record — 
fell  to  pieces,  at  the  first  shock,  and  sad  to  tell, 
every  soul  perished,  with  the  exception  of  the  old 
woman,  whom  the  black  cook,  had  he  survived, 
would  have  sworn  he  saw  flying  away  on  a  broom 
stick. 

"  What  a  fine  speculation  I've  lost !"  thought  Cap 
tain  Doolittle,  as  he  swallowed  his  last  mouthful. 

"Ecod,"  quoth  the  ebony  cook,  "Ecod,  I  tirik  I  got 
to  windward  of  Masser  Doolittle  dis  time."  And  thus 
ended  all  their  bargains  in  this  world. 

The  old  woman  floated  ashore  on  a  hencoop,  not  a 
great  way  from  Point  Judith,  which  together  with  all 
the  country,  on  that  side  of  Narragansett  bay,  was 
inhabited  by  Indians.  As  she  wandered  melancholy 
along  the  wild  shore,  she  came  to  where  an  Indian 
was  fishing  for  Skuppaugs,  who  on  seeing  her,  pulled 
up  his  line  in  a  hurry,  and  ran  away  whooping  and 
bellowing,  so  that  he  might  be  heard  in  the  silence  of 
the  forest,  I  don't  know  how  many  miles,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  dashing  of  the  waves,  on  the  rocks  at 
Point  Judith. 

The  old  woman  though  sorely  affrighted  at  first,  was 
emboldened  by  seeing  the  copper- coloured  villain  run 
away  so  heartily,  and  following  him  leisurely,  at  length 
came  to  his  wigwam,  where  she  found  him  talking  to 
his  wife  and  pappooses,  with  violent  gesticulations. 
At  her  approach,  the  whole  family  uttered  a  great 


shout  and  ran  away,  as  fast  as  their  legs  would  carry 
them.  The  old  woman  followed  on,  until  by  degrees, 
the  whole  tribe  of  the  Narragansetts  was  roused  up, 


and  scampering  before  her  at  a  great  rate.  Finally, 
she  as  it  were,  conquered  the  whole  country,  from 
Point  Judith,  to  Seekonk,  and  might  have  taken  pos 
session,  only  she  had  other  fish  to  fry. 

At  Seekonk,  she  met  with  some  of  the  good  Roger 
Williams'  people,  who  not  suspecting  what  a  diaboli 
cal  errand  she  was  on,  kindly  administered  to  her 
necessities,  and  drew  upon  a  piece  of  birch  bark,  a 
rude  map  of  the  country,  from  Seekonk  to  Shawmut, 


whereby  she  was  able  to  find  her  way  there  without 
much  difficulty.  Here  she  came  near  getting  into 
trouble,  on  account  of  her  striking  resemblance  to  a 
witch  ;  but  escaped  by  appealing  to  the  compassion  of 
these  good  people.  She  related  the  story  of  her  dis 
mal  shipwreck  at  Point  Judith,  and  her  perilous  jour 
ney  among  the  Narragansetts,  and  was  not  only  per 
mitted  to  pass,  but  ferried  across  all  the  rivers  between 
Shavvmut  and  Naumkeag  for  nothing.  So  she  arrived 
at  the  latter  place  without  any  accident. 

But  the  difficulty  was,  to  procure  an  interview  with 
some  one  who  could  put  her  in  the  way  of  joining  the 
society  of  the  witches,  who  at  that  time,  were  begin 
ning  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  magistrates.  She 
noticed,  that  a  great  many  of  the  people,  looked  very 
suspicious  at  her  ;  and  in  particular,  one  of  the  select 
men  rather  abruptly  refused  a  pinch  of  snuff  she  of 
fered  him.  She  was  for  these  reasons,  afraid  of  ma 
king  any  stir  in  the  business,  and  had  almost  deter 
mined  to  go  home,  as  wise  as  she  came ;  when  one 
day,  as  she  was  wandering  all  alone,  among  the 
swamps  and  rocks,  in  the  neighbourhood,  thinking 
what  she  should  do,  she  met  a  little  old  man,  about 
three  feet  nothing  high,  with  a  gun  on  his  shoulder, 
about  four  yards  long,  and  such  a  cut-water  to  his  face 
as  never  was  seen  before.  It  was  the  finest  nose  in 
the  world  to  pull,  for  one  might  do  it,  without  being 
within  two  good  yards  of  him,  and  quite  out  of  the 
reach  of  his  arm. 

"Ho!"  said  the  little  man,  "who  may  you  be.     I 


know  all  the  ugly  old  women  in  these  parts,  but  I  don't 
think  I  ever  saw  you  before ;"  and  then  he  began  to 
whistle  the  old  tune  of 

"  Frost-fish  and  dumplings,  ho,  Jemima 
Where  did  you  come  from,  ho,  Jemima !" 

This  he  did,  with  such  a  sharp  shrill  sound,  that  the 
old  woman  put  her  thumbs  in  both  her  ears,  though 
she  was  somewhat  hard  of  hearing.  But  there  was 
something  in  the  fiery  twinkling  of  the  little  man's 
eyes,  the  redness  of  his  nose,  and  other  particulars, 
too  tedious  to  mention,  that  put  the  old  woman  upon  the 
suspicion,  that  he  was  no  better  than  he  should  be. 
So  she  made  a  curtsey,  and  offered  him  a  pinch  of 
snuff,  which  he  accepted,  on  condition  she  would  her 
self,  apply  it  to  his  proboscis,  seeing  he  could  not 
reach  it  himself.  On  doing  this,  the  little  man  was 
seized  with  such  a  fit  of  sneezing,  that  it  loosed  his 
nose  from  his  face,  and  away  it  flew,  oversetting  the 
old  woman  in  its  passage. 

"  Vuur  un  Flammen  /"  cried  the  old  man,  setting 
off  in  chase  of  his  nose,  as  fast  as  his  short  legs  and 
long  gun  would  let  him.  It  led  him  a  pretty  dance, 
through  the  swamps,  among  bushes,  briers,  and  bull 
frogs,  and  it  is  my  private  opinion,  he  would  never 
have  overtaken  it,  had  it  not  flown  against  a  great  tree 
with  such  force,  that  it  fell  to  the  ground  quite  stunned. 
Thereupon,  the  little  man,  laid  hold  of  it,  and  with 
much  ado,  clapped  it  to  his  face  again,  grumbling  to 
himself  all  the  while. 


By  this  time,  the  old  woman  had  recovered  herself, 
and  came  up  puffing  and  blowing  mightily.  She  took 
him  for  one  of  her  countrymen,  because  he  spoke 
Dutch  ;  not  being  aware  that  such  sort  of  people,  can 
speak  just  what  language  they  please. 

"  Good  woman,"  said  he,  "  you  will  oblige  me,  by 
telling  me  where  you  got  that  snuff.  I've  not  had  such 
a  fit  of  sneezing  these  thousand  years." 


"  I  bought  it  of  old  Blazee  Moore,  in  New  Amster 
dam,"  quoth  she. 

"Is  het  mogelyk"  exclaimed  the  old  man,  and  that's 
all  he  said  about  the  matter. 

By  degrees,  they  fell  into  conversation,  and  at  last 
the  old  man  asked  her  business  in  those  parts,  which 
it  is  a  wonder  he  had  not  done  before,  seeing  the  peo 
ple  are  very  curious  thereabouts. 


"  But  for  that  matter,"  continued  he,  "  there's  no 
occasion  for  you  to  answer.  I  know  all  about  it,  and 
you've  hit  the  nail,  right  on  the  head.  I  am  the  man 
for  your  money.  Come  to  this  spot  to-night,  exactly 
at  twelve,  and  your  business  shall  be  done,  as  slick 
as  a  whistle."  Saying  which,  he  followed  his  nose, 
the  Lord  knows  where,  for  I  don't. 

When  night  came,  the  old  woman  set  forth  in  full 
confidence,  of  being  converted  into  a  first  rate  witch 
of  three  broomsticks  ;  for,  be  it  known,  the  communi 
ty  of  witches,  is  a  complete  aristocracy,  and  there  are 
as  many  degrees  of  precedence  among  them,  as 
among  the  German  nobility. 

The  night  was  dark  as  pitch,  and  had  it  not  been 
for  the  bright  streaks  of  lightning,  that  scampered 
athwart  the  sky  ever  and  anon,  she  could  not  have 
seen  the  nose  on  her  face,  even  if  it  had  been  of  the 
size  of  that  of  the  old  man.  Even  with  these  occa 
sional  helps,  she  more  than  once  lost  her  way,  and 
wandered  about  she  knew  not  whither.  At  one  time, 
she  entered  an  old  Indian  burying-place,  where  she 
stumbled  over  the  graves,  and  sometimes  fell  down 
upon  them,  thus  uniting  the  living  with  the  dead.  Es 
caping  from  this,  she  not  long  after  came  to  the  spot, 
where  many  years  before,  there  had  been  buried  in 
one  wide  grave,  the  bodies  of  a  party  of  white  men, 
women,  and  children,  all  of  whom  had  fallen  under  the 
tomahawk  and  scalping-knife  ;  having  been  surprised 
by  the  savages,  and  every  soul  murdered  in  cold 
blood.  They  had  been  buried  in  haste,  for  in  those 


times  of  sore  peril,  people  had  enough  to  do,  to  take 
care  of  the  living,  letting  alone  the  dead. 

The  first  thing  that  made  her  aware  of  her  neigh 
bourhood  with  the  silent  graves,  was  seeing  by  the 
flashes  of  lightning,  which  now  came  so  quick  after 


each  other,  that  they  might  almost  be  said  to  run  into 
one,  the  bones  of  these  poor  victims  of  savage  war 
fare,  striking  out  of  the  ground  in  many  places.  They 
had  been  buried  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  which  in  the 
course  of  years,  had  washed  partly  away  by  the 
rains  ;  and  in  one  place,  projected  the  bone  of  a  leg  ; 


in  another,  that  of  an  arm  ;  in  another,  a  grinning  scull 
stared  her  in  the  face  ;  and  close  by  were  the  re 
mains  of  a  little  child,  all  white  as  the  driven  snow. 
The  old  woman's  heart  almost  failed  her,  at  seeing 
such  a  sad  sight  of  the  triumphs  of  death,  in  this  lone 
ly  spot,  in  the  darkness  of  night.  She  repented  of 
her  coming,  and  strove  to  find  her  way  back  again  ; 
but  she  only  walked  in  a  circle,  and  each  time  return 
ed  to  see  the  white  bones,  glimmering  in  the  flashes 
of  lightning. 

When  she  had  well  nigh  worn  out  her  strength,  and 
began  to  despair  of  release  from  this  labyrinth  till  day 
light,  on  a  sudden  she  ran  plump  against  something 
hard,  and  was  almost  knocked  over. 


"  Holloa !"  cried  some  one  at  a  distance — "  what 
business  have  you  with  my  nose  ?"  and  she  recogni 
sed  the  voice  of  the  little  man  she  met  in  the  morning. 
"  Ben  je  ledondered"  added  he,  for  he  was  apt  to 
speak  Dutch  when  a  little  ruffled. 

The  old  woman  apologized,  on  account  of  the  dark 
ness  ;  the  old  man  recovered  his  good  humour,  and 
convinced  her  it.  was  under  his  special  influence  that 
she  was  kept  in  this  very  spot ;  for  here  it  was  that 
the  excellent  company  of  witches  celebrated  their 
midnight  gambols.  He  told  her  it  was  now  just  mid 
night,  and  the  assembly  would  soon  gather  together. 

And  sure  enough,  they  soon  began  to  arrive  one  by 
one,  till  their  number  amounted  to  about  a  dozen  witch 
es  and  wizards.  One  came  on  a  broomstick ;  another 
mounted  on  a  great  tom-cat ;  a  third,  had  put  a  bridle 
on  a  three-legged  stool,  and  came  cantering  up  at  a 
fine  rate  ;  a  fourth  had  stolen  a  neighbouring  far 
mer's  pig,  and  was  urging  him  on  tail  foremost,  by 
which  cunning  expedient,  the  obstinate  animal  was 
persuaded  that  he  was  going  homeward,  instead  of 
directly  the  contrary  ;  a  fifth  bestrode  a  rail,  the  ends 
of  which  were  sticking  into  the  posts,  which  perform 
ed  the  duties  of  legs  in  the  most  surprising  manner ; 
and  a  sixth  came  on  an  old  cock-turkey,  that  strutted, 
spread  his  tail  and  gobbled  as  if  he  were  as  proud  as 
a  peacock.  In  short,  each  one  was  well  mounted  as 
need  be,  and  rode  with  a  most  witching  grace  as 
might  be  expected. 

But  the  steeds  were  nothing  compared  to  the  riders. 


•  V 


/  ''-'-,'.' 

$    >  iii^f 

•PL!>  rn  a/      .-.     (  ffl  i ,  u  ^ 


Such  another  company,  is  seldom  seen  of  a  summer 
day,  nor  for  that  matter,  at  midnight  either.  There 
was  one,  whose  tongue  had  worn  away  all  her  teeth  by 
incessant  talking  ;  another  whose  eyes  were  always 
squinting,  owing  to  a  habit  of  continually  casting  sin 
ister  looks  at  her  neighbours  ;  another  whose  face  had 
the  expression  of  a  cat,  from  being  forever  on  the 
lookout  for  the  faults  of  other  people,  just  as  the  cat 
watches  a  mouse  ;  another  with  a  face  caved  in  like 
a  half  moon,  as  yellow  as  saffron,  and  with  an  expres 
sion  of  malignity,  that  made  every  one  shudder.  In 
fact,  if  the  honest  truth  must  be  told,  the  old  woman 
from  New  Amsterdam,  was  the  handsomest  among 
them,  and  she  was  no  great  beauty.  As  to  the  male 
witches,  they  had  nothing  to  boast  of,  and  are  not 
worth  a  description.  Wickedness  and  evil  passions 
had  worn  them  to  skin  and  bones,  and  as  they  moved 
about  among  the  remains  of  the  dead,  they  looked  like 
demons,  or  evil  spirits  employed  on  deeds  of  dark 
ness. 

When  the  party  was  complete,  the  old  gentleman 
with  a  long  nose,  who  was  evidently  the  principal 
personage  of  this  diabolical  assemblage,  called  them 
to  order.  Lights  were  fixed  in  the  sculls  that  Jay 
scattered  about,  from  whence  arose  pale  blue  flames, 
and  the  little  man  then  proposed  the  eld  woman,  as  a 
member  of  the  fraternity.  Considerable  debate  arose, 
but  after  having  satisfactorily,  answered  a  great  vari 
ety  of  questions,  artfully  calculated  to  elicit  her  evil 
propensities,  she  was  admitted  unanimously,  with  the 


exception  of  a  cross,  withered  virago,  who  always 
opposed  every  thing,  merely  to  have  an  opportunity  to 
indulge  her  ungovernable  propensity  to  talking. 

She  was  then  sworn  on  a  wicked  book  of  politics, 
to  obey  the  commands  of  the  little  old  man  ;  to  keep 
the  secret  of  her  initiation  faithfully ;  never  to  betray 
any  of  the  sisterhood ;  and  never  to  do  good  when 
there  was  a  possibility  of  doing  evil.  Then  the  little 
imp,  brought  out  a  piece  of  parchment,  made  of  the 
skin  of  a  man,  that  had  been  gibbeted  for  killing  his 
own  mother,  and  placing  a  pen  in  the  old  woman's 
hand,  bade  her  sign  her  name,  which  she  could  not 
do,  by  reason  of  never  having  learned  to  write.  Up 
on  this,  he  directed  her  to  make  her  mark,  which  she 
was  about  to  do  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  when  he  ex 
claimed  in  great  tribulation,  "  Wat  blixemis  dat?"  and 
snatching  the  pen,  obliged  her  to  make  a  mark  in  the 
shape  of  a  forked  tail. 

When  all  was  done,  the  little  man  called  for  the 
music,  and  straightway  came  forth  from  among  the 
dry  bones,  some  half  a  dozen  cadaverous  figures,  with 
divers  strange  instruments  of  music,  such  as  have  no 
name,  that  I  know  of,  and  whose  tones  were  expres 
sive  of  sighs,  groans,  shrieks  of  agony,  and  curses  of 
despair  ;  all  forming  a  concert  expressive  of  guilt  and 
misery,  rather  than  of  gayety  or  joy.  The  assembly 
then  arranged  themselves  for  the  dance,  under  the 
direction  of  the  little  man,  who  acted  as  master  of 
ceremonies,  and  who,  by  way  of  a  great  compliment, 
led  the  old  woman  to  the  top  of  the  set,  and  calling 


for  "  the  Devil's  delight,"  the  whole  party  commenced 
their  revels. 


This  "  Devil's  delight,"  was  a  waltz,  and  it  was  ama 
zing  to  see  the  supernatural  agility  of  these  superannua 
ted  old  beldams.  They  looked  right  languishingly  on 
their  partners,  who  in  turn,  ogled  them  with  a  most 
insinuating  air  of  devotion ;  they  whirled  round  and 
round  until  their  petticoats  were  inflated  to  the  size  of 
a  balloon,  threw  their  legs  about,  in  a  style  that  some 
what  shocked  the  delicacy  of  the  old  woman,  who  had 
been  brought  up  in  the  old  fashioned  way  ;  and  if  the 
honest  truth  must  be  told,  behaved  almost  as  bad  as 
the  fine  travelled  ladies  of  these  times  do,  when  they 
play  the  whirligig  at  balls,  to  the  marvellous  content  of 
all  the  admirers  of  handsome  ankles  and  silken  hose.  I 


have  been  the  more  particular  in  describing  the  "  Dev 
il's  delight,"  seeing  it  is  beyond  doubt,  the  original  of 
waltzing,  a  practice  thus  nearly  allied  to  witchcraft. 
The  little  man  gloriously  signalized  himself  in  these 
diabolical  manoeuvres,  though  his  nose  was  so  much 
in  the  way  of  his  partner,  that  he  was  obliged  to  ele 
vate  it  to  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  so  that  it  might 
point  over  her  shoulders. 

Thus  they  continued,  while  the  thunder  rattled  and 
pealed  above  their  heads,  and  the  lightning  darted 
athwart  the  heavens,  in  zigzag  windings  just  like 
snakes  with  forked  tongues.  The  skies  seemed  on 
fire,  and  anon  a  great  oak  which  almost  overshadowed 
the  capering  group,  was  shattered  to  pieces  and  fell 
to  the  earth,  with  a  crash  that  for  a  moment  deadened 
the  roaring  artillery  of  the  heavens.  But  still  they 
danced  on,  whirling  around  and  around  in  the  lascivi 
ous  mazes  of  the  "  Devil's  delight,"  shouting  and  hal 
looing  with  an  obstreperous  merriment,  that  contrast 
ed  horribly  with  the  uproar  above,  and  the  discordant 
tones  of  the  cadaverous  musicians.  Even  when  the 
rain  began  to  fall  in  torrents,  whose  ravages  disclosed 
new  relics  of  the  dead,  they  still  continued  their  rev 
elry,  till  the  crowing  of  the  cock  announced  the  ap 
proach  of  morning. 

This  too,  was  unnoticed  and  unregarded ;  and  the 
dance  continued,  with  increasing  animation,  until  the 
storm  had  passed  away,  and  the  bright  beams  of  the 
rising  sun  streaked  the  reddening  skies.  Then  it  was 
that  an  honest  man,  who  was  out  thus  early  in  search 


of  game,  suddenly  came  upon  them  while  they  were 
too  deeply  engaged  to  observe  him  ;  and  taking  to  his 
heels  ran  back  as  fast  as  his  legs  would  carry  him, 


giving  notice  to  the  magistrates  of  Naumkeag,  of  what 
he  had  seen.  Hereupon  there  was  a  great  stirring 
and  uproar  in  the  town;  the  magistrate  summoned 
the  constables,  and  other  official  dignitaries,  who  to 
gether  with  all  those  who  could  furnish  themselves 
with  a  horse  shoe,  sallied  out  to  arrest  the  diabolical 
rout,  and  bring  them  to  condign  punishment.  This 
they  would  certainly  have  done,  such  was  the  inten 
sity  with  which  these  wicked  reprobates  waltzed  the 
"  Devil's  delight,"  had  not  the  mystical  influence  of 
so  many  horse  shoes,  communicated  itself  by  some 
unknown  means,  to  the  rout,  who  gradually  remitted 
the  velocity  of  their  airy  circles,  and  began  to  snuff 
the  air  instinctively.  Just  as  the  crowd  came  in  sight, 


the  little  man  suddenly  stopt — listened  a  moment,  and 
then  exclaiming,  "  Wat  donder  is  dat  ?"  disappeared 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  no  one  knew  whither. 

Then  with  a  shriek  that  rent  the  surrounding  air, 
they  one  and  all,  mounted  their  respective  steeds,  and 
soaring  in  the  skies,  flew  away  like  so  many  wild 
geese  all  in  a  row.  It  ought  to  have  been  noted  at 
the  time,  that  after  the  old  woman  had  made  the 
mark  of  the  forked  tail,  by  which  she  became  fast 
bound  to  the  fraternity,  and  shared  their  punishment, 
the  little  man  had  given  her  a  broomstick,  with  strict 
injunctions  to  take  as  good  care  of  it,  as  a  sportsman 
does  of  a  first-rate  steed.  On  this  then  she  mounted 
the  moment  the  alarm  was  given,  and  wending  her 
course  towards  the  west,  where  lay  her  home,  flat 
tered  herself  she  would  soon  be  out  of  the  reach  of 
danger. 

But  whether  it  was  that  the  broomstick  had  not  been 
properly  exorcised  by  the  little  man,  or  that  the  old 
woman  did  not  manage  it  with  sufficient  skill,  I 
know  not,  but  certain  it  is,  that  the  rest  of  the  witches 
left  her  far  behind  in  their  flight.  With  all  her  chir 
ruping  and  spurring,  and  jogging  of  the  knees,  she 
could  barely  rise  above  the  trees,  and  her  speed  was 
little  more  than  that  of  an  ordinary  pedestrian.  See 
ing  this,  the  whole  crowd  turned  their  attention  to  her, 
and  began  a  pursuit  that  threatened  the  most  alarming 
consequences.  The  old  woman  whipped  up  the 
broomstick,  and  the  pursuers  ran  after,  hurling  clubs 
and  stones,  and  shouting  maledictions,  until  they  came 


so  close,  that  just  as  she  was  about  to  cross  a  small 
river  that  lay  in  the  way,  the  foremost  man  seized  hold 
of  her  cloak  behind,  which  caused  her  in  the  hurry  of 
unloosing  it,  to  let  go  the  broomstick,  and  it  fell  to  the 
ground.  She  had  just  time  to  become  invisible,  which 
she  did  by  muttering  a  little  charm,  when  the  whole 
body  of  pursuers  coming  up,  to  their  great  disappoint 
ment,  found  nothing  but  a  broomstick.  This  they 


threw  into  the  stream,,  where  it  hissed  like  a  red-hot 
ploughshare,  to  the  great  dismay  of  the  beholders.  In 
memory  of  the  mysterious  disappearance  of  the  old 
woman,  and  the  hissing  of  the  broomstick,  the  stream 
has  ever  since  been  called  Mystic  river. 


In  the  meantime,  the  old  woman  having  lost  her 
magic  steed,  pursued  her  way  stoutly  towards  New 
Amsterdam,  occasionally  trying  her  hand  at  her  new 
vocation,  and  finding  to  her  great  satisfaction,  that  she 
did  very  well,  most  especially  excelling  in  sticking 
invisible  pins  and  needles.  At  length  after  an  absence 
of  three  weeks,  she  arrived  safe  home  ;  and  the  first 
thing  she  saw,  was  neighbour  Rinier  counting  his 
money,  which  she  found  had  increased  several  Dutch 
ducats  during  her  absence.  At  this  she  was  very 
much  incensed,  and  resolved  to  set  about  reveng 
ing  herself  without  delay,  for  the  imaginary  injuries 
that  luckless  wight  had  inflicted  on  her  at  various 
times,  most  especially,  by  making  money  so  fast. 

During  the  absence  of  the  old  woman,  Rinier  had 
pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his  way.  He  attended  to 
his  garden,  went  every  day,  except  Sunday  to  market, 
from  whence  he  always  returned  with  his  cart  empty 
and  his  purse  full ;  smoked  his  pipe  in  peace,  and 
grew  to  love  money  more  than  ever,  the  more  he  had. 
It  happened  one  day  as  he  was  at  work  in  his  garden, 
as  was  his  custom,  bright  and  early  in  the  summer- 
morning,  he  was  accosted  by  one  of  the  smallest  women 
he  had  ever  seen,  all  his  life  before.  She  was  so 
little  that  he  took  her  for  a  child  of  three  or  four  years 
old,  until  on  a  closer  scrutiny,  he  discovered  she 
was  full  grown.  He  wondered  who  she  could  be, 
and  where  she  came  from,  for  the  garden-gate  was 
always  shut  to  keep  out  the  Bowery  boys,  and  it  was 
impossible  she  could  have  come  through  the  house- 


door,  which  was  in  like  manner  barred  against  all  in 
trusion,  when  Rinier  was  at  work  in  his  garden. 

The  little  creature  made  him  a  mighty  low  curtsey, 
but  with  an  air  of  dignity,  showing  that  she  thought 
herself  somebody,  and  would  not  have  so  demeaned 
herself  had  she  not  come  to  ask  a  favour.  Rinier  in 
return  pulled  off  his  hat,  scraped  his  left  foot,  and 
bowed  almost  as  low  as  the  little  woman  had  curtsied. 
Before  he  had  time  to  ask  her  what  she  wanted,  for  he 
was  somewhat  phlegmatic  in  his  speech,  the  little 
thing  walked,  or  rather  tripped  up  to  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  tulips  in  the  garden,  and  begged  him  to  give 
it  to  her  as  she  longed  for  it  mightily. 


Rinier  said,  rather  roughly,  that  she  would  long  for 
it  a  long  time,  unless  she  put  down  twelve  stivers, 
which  was  the  lowest  he  would  take  for  it,  to  the 
mother  that  bore  him,  who  was'  buried  at  Harlaem, 
close  by  the  great  windmill.  In  vain  did  the  little 
woman  conjure  him  in  the  most  touching  manner. 
Rinier  continued  inflexible,  the  little  woman  went 
away  without  the  tulip,  threatening  vengeance  in  a 


mysterious  manner.  "  Pooh !"  said  Rinier,  "  what 
harm  can  such  a  little  thing  as  you  do  ?"  But  he  an 
swered  like  a  great  blockhead,  for  he  ought  to  have 
known  that  there  is  sometimes  a  great  deal  of  the  Old 
Boy  in  a  little  woman. 


The  next  morning  when  he  went  into  his  garden 
to  plant  a  late  crop  of  peas,  he  discovered  to  his  aston 
ishment,  that  his  bed  of  tulips,  which  as  a  genuine 
Hollander,  he  valued  as  the  apple  of  his  eye,  was  all 
turned  into  an  infamous  weed,  which  the  learned  have 
since  nicknamed  Stramonium,  the  Lord  forgive  them 
for  it.  "  Wat  blikslager !"  exclaimed  the  good  man, 
for  he  was  too  pious  to  swear,  though  it  must  be  con 
fessed,  since  he  began  to  grow  rich  and  hoard  money, 
though  he  prayed  and  read  the  Bible  as  much  as  ever, 
it  did  not  do  him  much  good,  for  he  was  always 
thinking  about  his  ducats. 

At  first  he  refused  to  believe  his  eyes  ;  but  was 
obliged  to  be  convinced  at  last,  and  with  a  perplexed 
and  sorrowful  heart,  began  to  dig  up  the  infamous  in 
truders  on  his  beloved  bed  of  tulips.  He  was  not 
much  of  a  believer  in  witchcraft,  but  this  time  could 
not  help  suspecting  some  of  the  gentry  from  Naurn- 
keag,  had  been  playing  their  pranks  with  him.  He 
never  thought  of  the  threatenings  of  the  little  woman 
that  visited  him  the  day  before,  as  he  dug  up  the 
loathsome  weeds  ;  and  not  to  lose  time,  planted  salad 
in  its  place. 

The  next  morning,  going  as  usual  into  his  garden, 
he  was  struck  dumb,  at  seeing  everything  turned  top 
syturvy.  His  radishes  were  changed  into  wild  tur 
nips  ;  his  salads  to  mullins  ;  his  onions  to  rag  weed  ; 
his  potatoes  to  paving  stones  ;  and  his  cabbages  to 
great  toadstools  as  high  as  his  head.  "  Onbegrypelyk !" 
exclaimed  he,  and  if  he  had  not  had  his  pipe  in  his 


mouth,  ten  to  one  he  would  have  got  into  a  great  pas 
sion.  As  it  was,  he  stood  staring  with  his  eyes  wide 
open,  puffing  out  such  volumes  of  smoke,  that  the  peo 
ple  of  New  Amsterdan  thought  it  was  a  great  fog  ri 
sing  out  of  the  Collect.  "  I  am  bewitched  to  a  cer 
tainty,"  said  he  to  himself,  as  he  thought  of  the  little 
woman  that  came  to  ask  him  for  a  tulip. 

This  was  the  very  day  the  old  hag  came  back 
from  Naumkeag,  after  being  made  a  witch,  as  I  have 
before  related  ;  and  now  poor  Rinier  was  placed  be 
tween  two  fires,  as  it  were.  The  first  thing  she  saw 


,  .  -. 

was  Rinier  counting  liis  money,  and  she  found  he  had 
added  several  pieces  to  his  store  during  her  absence. 
Upon  which  she  fell  into  a  great  passion,  and  deter 
mined  to  be  revenged  on  him,  the  very  first  opportu-? 
nity.  Accordingly  that  very  night,  she  came  into  his 


room  to  stick  a  few  pins  in  his  back,  but  finding  him 
reading  his  Bible,  she  went  out  rather  faster  than  she 
came  in,  for  witches  have  a  great  antipathy  to  the 
good  book,  seeing  they  can  do  no  harm  to  any  person 
while  he  is  reading  it.  But  she  took  good  care 
that  he  should  read  his  Bible  no  more,  for  as  soon  as 
Rinier  began  to  snore,  she  stole  it  away,  though  it 
burnt  her  fingers  terribly. 

Then  it  was  that  she  commenced  her  diabolical 
experiments  on  the  poor  man,  who  from  that  time  had 
no  comfort  by  day,  nor  rest  by  night.  Sometimes  as 
he  lay  awake  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  for  he  now 
hardly  ever  slept  soundly,  he  would  behold  a  crowd 
of  fantastic  and  terrible  figures,  like  nothing  human, 
flitting  back  and  forth  about  his  room  ;  sometimes 
lighting  on  his  pillow,  and  sticking  pins  in  him,  grin 
ning  and  chattering  all  the  while.  Sometimes  one  of 
them  would  sit  down  on  his  breast,  and  glare  upon 
him  with  her  great  goggle  eyes,  till  he  would  have 
shut  his  own,  if  he  could  have  done  it.  But  his  fac 
ulties  were  all  swallowed  up  by  terror ;  he  could 
neither  stir  hand  nor  foot ;  and  there  he  would  lay, 
until  at  last  with  a  violent  effort,  he  would  throw  him 
self  from  his  bed,  shaking  and  sweating  in  agony. 
The  monstrous  figures  would  then  laugh  aloud,  not 
like  Christian  people,  but  with  a  hollow  chuckling 
that  seemed  to  come  from  no  one  knew  where. 

Often  when  poor  Rinier  set  forth  of  a  morning  with 
his  marketing — of  which  he  now  had  special  little 
seeing  almost  all  his  garden  truck  was  metamorphosed 


as  I  have  before  related — his  fat  pony,  who  had  all 
his  life  time  before,  behaved  in  the  most  obliging  and 
peaceable  manner,  would  begin  to  kick  like  a  devil 
incarnate,  breaking  Rimer's  shins,  staving  in  the 
head-board,  and  finally  obliging  him  to  jump  out.  Then 
he  would  neigh  with  all  his  might,  and  dashing  down 
the  side  of  the  hill,  upset  the  little  cart,  with  all  its 
contents  right  into  the  Collect. 

He  was  accustomed  to  sit  at  his  door,  of  a  summer 
evening,  with  his  pipe  in  his  mouth,  listening  to  the 
croaking  of  the  frogs,  with  which  the  Collect  at  that 
time  abounded,  and  the  chirping,  buzzing  noises  of 
the  thousand  little  fry  of  animals  and  insects,  which  the 
kindly  warmth  and  genial  showers  waken  into  life  and 
music.  People  may  say  what  they  will,  but  there  is 
something  to  my  mind  irresistibly  soothing,  and  de 
lightfully  melancholy  in  this  nightly  concert.  It  is 
in  harmony  with  the  sobriety  of  evening,  and  with  the 
gentle  emotions  of  the  heart.  But  now  this  solace 
was  denied  him.  Clouds  of  moschetoes,  would  rise 
from  the  swampy  borders  of  the  Collect,  wing  their 
way  by  the  sound  of  their  trumpets  towards  Rinier, 
and  in  spite  of  the  smoke  of  his  pipe,  settle  on  every 
part  of  his  bare  skin,  inflicting  stings,  that  seemed  to 
come  from  poisoned  needles.  Then  he  would  be 
obliged  to  flee  into  the  house,  shut  the  doors,  and 
windows,  and  deprive  himself  of  the  balmy  air,  and 
soothing  concert. 

As  he  sat  thus  one  delightful  evening  twilight, 
smoking  his  pipe,  and  pondering  on  his  manifold  per- 


secutions,  all  at  once  he  was  alarmed,  by  a  great  com 
motion  in  the  Collect,  which  bubbled  up  in  all  direc 
tions,  as  if  agitated  by  some  internal  convulsion.  In 
a  little  while  it  subsided,  and  straightway,  he  beheld 
a  vast  array  of  bullfrogs,  emerging  from  the  water, 


and  making  theif  ^ay^lifre ctly  towards  Mm  with  a 
confusion  of  tongues,  enough  to  confound  the  whole 
universe.  They  came  hopping  forward,  the  regulars 
in  as  good  order  as  one  of  our  Militia  trainings,  fol 
lowed  by  a  rabble  of  little  frogs,  who  not  being  able 
to  bear  arms,  straggled  along  in  the  rear,  like  boys  at 
a  procession,  kicking  up  a  great  dust,  and  adding  their 
shrill  pipings  to  the  general  concert.  Each  of  the 


full-grown  troop  was  armed  with  a  formidable  bulrush, 
which  he  flourished  in  defiance,  as  he  followed  his 
leader,  a  frog  of  about  the  size  of  a  young  bull, 
and  whose  sonorous  voice  as  he  marshalled  his 
forces,  sounded  not  unlike  a  cracked  bell. 

As  this  formidable  array  mounted  the  hill,  in  front 
of  the  abode  of  the  astonished  Rimer,  the  commotion 
of  the  population  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  was 
indescribable.  The  little  urchins  who  according  to 
the  instinct  of  boys  and  pigs,  were  paddling  about  in 
the  soft  ooze  of  the  Collect,  when  they  saw  this  tre 
mendous  rising  of  the  frogs,  ran  away  shouting  with 
all  their  might ;  the  dogs  barked,  the  hens  cackled, 
the  pigs  grunted  and  squealed,  and  a  flock  of  geese, 
belonging  to  Alderman  Boddepeepe,  set  up  a  mighty 
alarm,  as  half  swimming  half  flying,  they  made  for  the 
opposite  shore.  Never  since  the  great  eruption  of 
frogs  into  the  town  of  Windham,  recorded  in  the  his 
tory  of  Connecticut,  was  there  such  a  consternation 
created  by  these  animals,  among  a  Christian  people. 

'"Goeden  Hemel!"  exclaimed  Rinier,  "  what  the 
Duyvel  has  got  into  these  varments  now  ?  I  be 
lieve  they  are  coming  to  take  possession  of  mine 
house.  Ah !  God  bewaar  us  !  I  almost  wish  they 
would,  for  it  is  little  better  than  a  purgatory  to  me 
now,"  added  poor  Rinier,  sighing  out  a  great  cloud  of 
smoke.  Seeing  them  coming  directly  towards  him,  he 
fearfully  ran  away  into  his  garden,  in  hopes  of  avoiding 
them,  but  what  was  his  dismay,  when  he  discovered, 
by  the  burning  and  itching  of  his  skin,  that  it  was  nothing 


but  a  thicket  of  thorns  and  briers,  from  one  end  to  the 
other.  To  complete  the  measure  of  his  miseries, 
•when  he  went  to  count  his  ducats  next  morning, 
which  he  always  did  let  what  would  happen,  he  found 
nothing  but  a  bundle  of  Shin  Plasters ! 


"The  cup  is  full,"  cried  Rinier  in  despair,  meaning 
thereby  that  the  stocking  was  empty.  "  O !  Saint 
Nicholas  !  Saint  Nicholas  !  what  will  become  of  me, 
miserable  wretch  that  I  am.  I  am  befairyed,  bewitch 
ed,  bedeviled,  and  bebullfroged ; — assist  me  good 
Saint  Nicholas,  or  most  assuredly  I  shall  run  mad  and 
die."  But  the  good  saint  came  not  at  his  call,  and 
that  night  he  went  to  bed,  as  if  he  never  meant  to  rise 
again. 


It  was  a  dark  and  dismal  night,  for  the  sun  was 
just  crossing  the  line,  and  the  elements  were  in  great 
commotion,  as  if  one  half  the  world  was  laughing  at 
his  coming,  and  the  other  weeping  his  departure. 
The  rain  fell  in  torrents,  the  thunder  rolled  overhead, 
and  the  lightnings  flashed  so  vividly  through  the  crev 
ices  of  the  doors  and  windows,  that  Rinier  covered 
his  head  with  the  bedclothes,  though  he  was  almost 
smothered  to  death. 

"  Rinier ! — Rinier  ! — Rinier  !" —  exclaimed  a  deep 
hollow  voice,  pausing  ominously  each  time  it  uttered 
his  name. 

Rinier  answered  not.  He  was  speechless  with 
terrour. 

"  Rinier ! — Rinier  ! — Rinier !" —  cried  a  little  tiny 
voice,  with  like  pauses  each  lime. 

Rinier  answered  not.  He  had  jumped  out  of  bed, 
arid  was  saying  his  prayers,  and  making  good  resolu 
tions,  as  people  generally  do  when  they  think  their 


last  hour  is  come.  He  called  again  on  the  good 
Saint  Nicholas,  and  this  time  he  called  not  in  vain. 
A  voice  straightway  replied,  seemingly  close  to  his 
ear,  which  he  knew  to  be  that  of  the  good  saint,  and 
being  encouraged  by  his  presence,  raised  his  head, 
and  looked  around  him  like  one  just  waking  from 
some  fearful  dream.  'Just  at  his  bedside  stood  the 
jolly  little  man,  his  cheeks  ruddy  with  health,  his 
heart  light  with  good  spirits  ;  and  his  eyes  beaming 
such  bright  benevolence,  that  the  room  was  as  light 
as  day.  In  one  corner  stood  the  little  fairy  he  had 
met  in  the  garden,  with  her  face  to  the  wall ;  and  in 
another  crouched  the  wicked  old  woman.  They 
were  silent  and  overawed ;  for  a  higher  power  had 
now  interposed,  and  their  enchantments  over  poor 
Rinier  were  at  an  end. 

"  Rinier,"  said  the  excellent  Saint  Nicholas  "  thou 
art  sufficiently  humbled  for  thine  avarice  and  lack  of 
charity  ;  for  know  that  the  vices  of  mankind,  are  al 
ways  the  instruments  of  their  punishment ;  first  by 
the  evils  they  bring  upon  themselves  ;  secondly  by 
those  they  inflict  on  each  other.  Thy  love  of  money, 
by  enabling  thee  to  hoard  it  up,  excited  the  envy 
and  malice  of  yonder  wicked  old  witch,  who  of  late 
hath  been  tormenting  thee.  Thy  want  of  charity  to 
wards  that  little  fairy  standing  in  the  other  corner,  in 
refusing  her  so  small  a  trifle  as  a  worthless  flower, 
hath  justly  subjected  thee  to  her  elfin  power.  Both 
are  now  ended.  Take  thy  bible  again,  which  I  have 
obliged  this  old  sinner  to  give  up  to  thee,  and  hereaf- 


ter,  fail  not  to  remember,  thou  canst  only  be  happy,  in 
proportion  as  thou  shalt  administer  to  the  happiness 
of  others." 

As  Saint  Nicholas  ended,  the  old  woman  flew  up 
the  chimney,  with  curses  and  maledictions ;  the  little 
fairy,  making  a  low  curtsey  to  the  saint,  flitted  through 
the  keyhole  ;  and  Saint  Nicholas  vanished,  no  one 
could  tell  how. 

Rinier  slept  sweetly  that  night,  which  he  had  not 
done  for  a  long  while,  and  waking  in  the  morning,  be 
held  his  bible  on  a  chair  beside  him.  Then  he  knew 
that  what  had  past,  was  not  a  dream,  and  rising  up 
full  of  hope,  resolved  to  take  good  heed  to  follow  the 
precept  of  the  worthy  saint,  who  had  vouchsafed  to 
deliver  him  from  such  terrible  visitations.  He  became 
the  friend  of  the  unfortunate,  the  benefactor  of  the 
needy,  the  comforter  of  the  wretched,  and  lived  long 
enough,  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  divine  precept  of 
Saint  Nicholas,  "  that  we  can  only  be  happy,  by  ad 
ministering  to  the  happiness  of  others." 


THE  FAIRY 


EXPERIMENT. 


Sequestered  among  a  range  of  lofty  mountains,  run 
ning  from  no  one  knows  whence,  to  nobody  knows 
where,  there  was  once,  and  may  be  still,  a  charming 
valley  where  all  the  beauties  of  nature  seemed  to  have 
come  together  in  happy  harmony.  A  foaming  tor 
rent,  after  dashing  down  the  mountain  side,  meandered 
with  sweet  delay  all  round  the  little  vale,  as  if  loth  to 
lose  itself  again  among  the  cliffs  that  environed  it, 
and  finally  stole  away,  silently  through  an  almost  in 
visible  opening  among  the  hills. 


A  little  meadow,  round  which  the  stream  formed  a 
bright  and  glittering  ring,  all  enamelled  with  nameless 
flowers,  lay  slumbering  as  it  were  in  these  quiet  reces 
ses,  where  a  cooling  and  perpetual  shade  threw  its  soft 
mantle  all  over,  and  all  around.  Save  the  twittering  of 
the  stream,  no  noise  ever  disturbed  the  everlasting 
quiet  of  the  scene,  and  such  was  the  silence  that  reign 
ed  there,  that  echo  had  long  since  abandoned  the 
cliffs  and  caves  of  these  mountains,  because  she  could 
never  hear  any  sounds  to  reply  to,  and  was  in  danger 
of  losing  her  voice  for  want  of  use. 

It  was  in  this  fair  sequestered  nook  of  the  New  world, 
that  a  band  of  fairies,  under  their  king  and  queen,  had 
sought  refuge  from  the  persecutions  of  science  and 
philosophy,  two  deadly  foes  to  these  playful  fantasies, 
and  airy  inventions  of  the  imagination,  which  give 
delight  to  the  spring-time  of  youth  and  around  which 
even  wintry  age  hovers  with  tender  recollections, 
when  recalling  the  visionary  world  of  long  past  times. 
Would  that  these  charming  illusions  might  once  more 
return,  and  science  and  philosophy  learn  to  tolerate 
any  other  dreams  but  their  own  ! 

Driven  from  their  home  in  the  Old  world,  they 
sought  the  New,  and  here  it  was  they  settled  down 
under  their  king  and  queen,  who  each  boasted  a  de 
scent  from  a  family  that  had  reigned  over  this  very 
tribe  for  six  thousand  years.  It  may  be  supposed  that 
they  carried  their  heads  somewhat  high,  and  indeed 
the  sway  they  held  was  that  of  a  complete  despotism 
except  that  it  was  somewhat  softened  by  a  habit  their 


majesties  had,  of  opposing  each  other  on  all  occasions, 
so  that  if  either  inflicted  wrong,  the  other  was  sure 
to  interpose  and  set  it  right  again.  That  this  mutual 
restraint  is  one  of  the  blessings  of  matrimony,  cannot 
be  reasonably  questioned.  Man  would  be  a  tyrant,  if 
not  restrained  by  woman ;  and  woman  would  be  man, 
with  all  their  female  follies  added  to  the  list  of  mas 
culine  enormities. 

But  despotism  cannot  exist  in  our  New  world. 
They  had  riot  been  long  settled  in  the  delightful  val 
ley,  when  attempting  to  exercise  the  prerogative  of 
regulating  the  fairy  dances,  which  had  never  before 
been  questioned,  her  majesty  found  to  her  astonish 
ment,  that  there  was  a  decided  opposition.  They  one 
and  all  sent  excuses,  when  invited  to  the  next  ball, 
and  on  being  peremptorily  summoned,  refused  out 
right  unless  her  majesty  would  allow  the  introduction 
of  some  new  waltzes  and  quadrilles,  which  had  be 
come  fashionable  of  late  years. 


Not  to  be  tedious,  one  thing  brought  on  another, 
meetings  were  called,  resolutions  adopted,  and  de 
mands  of  old  rights  and  privileges  presented  to  the 
king,  which  put  the  queen  in  such  a  passion,  that  she 
vehemently  insisted  the  troops  should  be  called  out, 
and  martial  law  proclaimed.  The  prime  minister 
Puck,  who  delighted  in  mischief,  and  who  being  both 
a  rogue  and  buffoon,  had  of  course  great  influence 
over  the  royal  pair,  joined  in  the  plan  ;  and  the  sol 
diers  being  ordered  out  against  the  insurgents,  joined 
them  to  a  fairy,  with  three  cheers  and  a  caper.  Upon 
this  their  majesties,  "  hopped  the  twig,"  as  they  say 
in  fairy  land  ;  that  is  they  flew  back  to  the  Old  world, 
where  they  spread  terrible  tales  of  the  wickedness  of 
the  New ;  while  Master  Puck,  fled  away  to  the  In 
dians,  who  adopted  and  gave  him  the  name  of  Loo- 
goochee,  or  Weehunsonack,  under  which  appellation, 
he  plays  his  pranks  to  this  day,  among  the  wild  men 
of  the  woods.  On  the  flight  of  the  king  and  queen,  the 
fairies  one  and  all  agreed  to  abolish  hereditary  rights, 
and  establish  a  Republic,  where  all  should  have  the 
privilege  of  a  voice  in  the  government.  Thus  they 
continue  from  that  time,  and  such  are  the  benefits 
derived  from  the  possession  of  liberty,  that  with  the 
exception  of  Master  Puck,  who  still  continues  a  con 
firmed  aristocrat,  and  is  always  in  mischief,  our  fair 
ies  have  become  the  most  harmless  people  in  the 
world.  4 

Beyond  the  mountains  which  environed  the  abode 
of  the  little  elfin  race,  there  lived  an  old  man,  whose 


sole  possessions  were  a  poor  cottage  miserably  out  of 
repair,  and  a  little  field  which  he  had  now  become 
too  decrepid  to  cultivate.  He  had  neither  wife  nor 
child,  friend  nor  relation,  and  lived  alone  by  himself  at 
the  foot  of  a  ledge  of  steep  rocks,  which  rose  high 
behind  his  humble  abode,  frowning  it  into  utter  insig 
nificance.  Yet  the  prospect  before  him  was  beautiful, 
the  air  pure,  and  a  spring  of  chrystal  water,  overshad 
owed  by  a  spreading  tree  afforded  him  a  wholesome 
beverage.  Poor  as  he  was,  however,  the  old  man 
was  kind  hearted  and  hospitable.  While  he  had,  he 
gave  away ;  nor  did  the  beggar  ever  want  food,  or 
the  traveller  a  lodging,  so  long  as  the  old  man  had  a 
house  over  his  head,  or  a  mess  of  corn  in  his  barrel. 

It  happened  one  day,  that  an  argument  arose  among 
some  of  the  fairy  rout,  concerning  the  effects  of  pros 
perity  and  adversity  on  the  character  of  mankind.  One 
portion  asserted  that  wealth  was  most  favourable  to 
the  virtues  of  charity  and  benevolence ;  while  the 
other  maintained  that  those  who  suffered  the  evils  of 
want,  were  the  most  likely  to  sympathize  in  the  wants 
of  others.  The  dispute  ran  so  high,  that  some  of  the 
most  zealous,  began  to  talk  about  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  when  a  wise  and  temperate  old  fairy  addressed 
them  as  follows  : — 

"I  did  not  intend  when  I  rose,  to  address  the  meet 
ing,  nor  do  I  now  mean  to  make  a  long  speech.  I 
will,  therefore,  be  as  brief  as  possible,  and  content 
myself  with  merely  repeating  all  the  arguments  that 
have  ever  been  used  on  the  subject,  since  the  creation 


of  the  world.  I  have  not  the  presumption  to  imagine, 
that  I  can  throw  any  additional  light  on  the  subject" — 
"  You'd  better  sit  down  then" — muttered  a  spiteful 
old  fairy,  who  wanted  to  make  a  speech  herself. 
"  Order  !"  cried  another,  and  the  first  speaker,  rinding 
that  the  assemblage  was  fast  diminishing,  came  to  the 
point  at  once,  by  proposing  to  try  the  experiment 
on  the  old  man,  on  the  other  side  of  the  mountain. 
"  He  is  now  poor  and  charitable,  let  us  see  what  ef 
fect  competence  first,  and  then  wealth  will  have  upon 
his  heart." 

All  agreed  to  this  proposal,  and  it  was  resolved 
that  the  experiment  should  be  tried.  The  season  had 
been  unfavourable,  and  the  old  man's  crop  of  corn, 
always  but  scanty,  was  now  diminished  to  just 
enough  flour  to  make  one  loaf.  When  that  was  gone 
he  knew  not  where  to  get  any  more,  for  all  the  coun 
try  around,  was  almost  as  badly  off  as  himself. 

Sitting  at  his  door  one  summer  twilight,  smoking 
his  pipe,  his  only  luxury,  and  thinking  what  would 
become  of  him,  when  his  last  loaf  was  baked  and  eaten, 
on  a  sudden,  there  appeared  before  him,  an  old  wo 
man  of  the  most  wretched  appearance.  Her  garments 
were  all  in  tatters  ;  her  feet  bare ;  her  face  almost 
fleshless,  and  pale  as  famine  itself.  As  she  leaned  on 
her  cane,  it  trembled  under  her  weight,  and  her  body 
bent  downward,  as  if  seeking  refuge  from  want  in  the 
grave. 

The  heart  of  the  old  man  yearned  with  compassion, 
as  he  looked  at  this  deplorable  figure,  which  stood 


before  him,  like  some  speechless  spectre  of  mortality. 
He  arose  and  offered  her  his  seat,  into  which  she  sunk 
exhausted,  exclaiming  in  faltering  accents  : — 

"  Give  me  to  eat,  for  I  am  famishing." 

"  Alas !"  replied  the  old  man,  "  if  I  relieve  thy 
hunger,  I  must  starve  myself.  I  have  but  one  mess 
of  flour,  and  when  that  is  gone,  I  know  not  where 
to  find  another,  for  the  country  around  is  almost  des 
titute." 

"  Then  God  help  me  !  I  must  perish  for  hunger  ; 
for  no  food  has  passed  my  lips  for  two  days  past." 

"  Nay,  that  must  not  be,"  said  the  old  man,  whose 
heart  melted  with  compassion,  "  I  will  share  my  last 
meal  with  thee,  and  trust  to  Providence  for  the  rest." 


Then  he  went  and  emptied  his  barrel  of  the  last 
batch  of  flour,  with  which  he  baked  a  little  loaf,  and 


they  sat  down  and  ate  together.  After  this,  the  old 
woman  arose,  and  thanking  him  earnestly  for  his  char 
ity,  said  as  she  departed,  "  Put  thy  empty  barrel  out 
by  the  side  of  the  spring  to  night." 

"  For  what  purpose  ?"  replied  the  old  man. 

"  I  say  put  thy  empty  barrel  out  by  the  side  of  the 
spring  to-night,"  repeated  she  somewhat  impatiently, 
as  once  more  thanking  him,  she  went  on  her  way. 

"  What  nonsense  !"  said  the  old  man  to  himself,  as 
he  went  once  more  and  lighted  his  pipe,  and  sat  down 
to  ponder  over  the  desolate  future.  The  injunction 
of  the  old  woman  ran  strangely  in  his  head,  and 
finally,  without  expecting  any  good  to  come  of  it,  he 
went  and  did  as  he  was  desired  ;  after  which  he  re 
tired  to  rest,  and  slept  soundly  till  morning.  Rising 
at  the  dawn  of  day,  he  went  down  to  wash  himself 
at  the  spring  ;  when  lo !  to  his  astonishment,  he  found 
his  barrel  filled  to  the  brim  with  corn.  Thereupon 


he  fell  on  his  knees  and  uttered  a  prayer  of  pious 
gratitude. 

His  immediate  wants  were  now  supplied,  and  he 
was  content  for  a  time,  though  the  thought  often  came 
over  his  mind,  that  he  might  just  as  well  put  out  two 
empty  barrels,  as  one,  seeing  that  whoever  filled  one, 
could  as  easily  fill  both.  So  one  night  he  put  out 
two  barrels,  and  in  the  morning  they  were  both  filled 
to  the  brim.  Having  now  more  than  he  wanted,  he 
began  to  think  what  he  should  do  with  the  superfluity. 
At  first,  he  resolved  to  distribute  it  among  the  neigh 
bours  who  were  suffering  from  a  scanty  harvest ;  but 
then  the  apprehension  that  the  supply  might  one  day 
cease,  and  he  be  reduced  again  to  want  a  meal,  weigh 
ed  against  his  benevolent  feelings.  So  at  last  he 
went  forth  and  sold  it  at  a  great  profit,  hiding  the 
money,  under  his  hearth-stone. 

When  people  begin  to  hoard,  they  are  in  imminent 
danger  of  becoming  avaricious,  and  so  it  happened 
with  the  old  man.  He  counted  his  money  every  day, 
until  he  became  tired  of  seeing  the  same  coins  over 
again,  and  resolved  to  increase  his  store  in  order  to 
keep  up  the  excitement  of  gain.  Accordingly  he  pla 
ced  three  empty  barrels  by  the  side  of  the  spring, 
which  as  usual  he  found  full  the  next  morning.  These 
he  sold  to  his  neighbours  at  a  great  price,  taking  advan 
tage  of  their  increasing  necessities ;  and  the  love  of 
money,  waxing  greater  from  fruition,  he  by  degrees  in 
creased  the  number  of  barrels  until  they  amounted  to  a 
dozen.  These  also,  he  sold  every  day,  until,  by  the  time 


a  year  had  passed  away,  he  had  become  the  most 
wealthy  man  in  all  the  country  round.  He  built  him 
self  a  fine  house,  dressed  in  rich  garments,  indulged 
in  gluttonous  indulgences,  and  could  now  hardly  sleep 
at  night,  for  indigestion,  and  thinking  of  getting  mon 
ey.  He  was  no  longer  charitable,  kind-hearted,  or 
benevolent ;  and  when  the  poor  came  to  him  to  beg 
a  little  supply  of  corn,  which  now  could  be  got  no 
where  else,  he  would  ask  them  a  great  price,  and  if 
they  could  not  pay  it,  drive  them  from  his  door. 


Meanwhile,  he  continued  to  set  out  more  empty 
barrels  at  the  side  of  the  spring;  but  he  observ 
ed  with  dismay,  that  as  he  increased  the  num 
ber,  the  quantity  of  grain  diminished.  Every  night 
the  barrels  lacked  more  and  more  of  being  filled,  so 
that  by  degrees  from  being  half  full,  he  could  now 
almost  see  the  bottom  of  them  all.  This  caused  great 
perplexity  and  apprehension  in  his  mind,  and  at  last 
he  came  to  a  resolution  to  watch  one  moonlight  night, 
and  learn  the  whole  secret  of  the  business,  which 
though  sorely  tempted,  he  had  heretofore  refrained 
from  prying  into. 

Accordingly,  when  the  evening  shadows  of  the 
mountains  had  gradually  been  wrapped  up  in  the  man 
tle  of  night,  and  all  was  quiet,  he  went  and  climbed 
the  tree  which  overshadowed  the  spring,  and  burying 
himself  among  its  whispering  leaves,  awaited  the  elu- 
cidationof  the  mystery.  Thebrightmoonbeams  silvered 
the  foliage  of  the  woods  ;  the  stars  kept  their  silent 
watch  in  the  skies  ;  and  the  voice  of  sorrow  or  of  joy 
had  ceased  in  the  country  around.  The  old  man  sat 
in  his  covert  still  as  death,  watching  with  breathless 
eagerness,  until  the  mid  hour  of  the  night  came,  in  all 
the  solemnity  of  silence  and  repose. 

Then  all  at  once,  he  saw  a  long  train  of  little  tiny 
elves,  streaming  down  the  mountain  side,  all  in  a  row, 
and  each  bearing  two  grains  of  corn,  which  they  de 
posited  in  the  barrels,  fleeing  away  and  returning  again 
with  the  silence  and  swiftness  of  thought.  Although 
their  number  was  so  great,  he  could  not  count  them, 


yet  the  old  man  in  his  avarice,  fearful  the  barrels  would 
not  be  half  filled  before  morning,  grew  very  impatient, 
and  could  hardly  keep  himself  quiet. 

At  last  there  came  along  a  little  fellow,  carrying 
three  grains  of  corn,  with  which  he  was  so  overload 
ed  that  he  made  his  way  with  great  difficulty,  puffing 
and  blowing  ail  the  while.  As  he  approached  the 
spring,  his  foot  slipped,  he  fell  to  the  ground,  and  his 
grains  of  corn  rolled  away  at  random.  Instead  of 
picking  them  up,  the  little  tired  fellow,  sat  down  on  a 
clover  flower  covered  with  dew  to  rest,  at  which  the 
old  man  got  out  of  all  patience,  and  forgetting  himself, 
cried  out  with  all  his  might — 

"  Hollo,  little  fellow  !  if  you  don't  stir  your  stumps, 
the  barrels  will  never  be  filled." 

He  had  scarcely  uttered  these  words,  when  the 
rout  of  fairy  elves,  uttering  a  loud  shriek,  flitted  away 
toward  the  mountain,  behind  which  they  disappeared 
like  a  flock  of  birds.  The  old  man  after  waiting  some 
time,  in  hopes  they  would  return  once  more,  descend 
ed  from  the  tree,  and  fearing  to  look  into  the  barrels, 
returned  home,  to  pass  the  rest  of  the  night  in  doleful 
anticipations.  All  these  were  realized  the  next  morn 
ing  when  on  going  to  examine  them,  they  were  all 
found  to  be  empty.  They  were  never  filled  again ; 
but  the  old  man  comforting  himself,  that  he  had  still 
sufficient  to  maintain  his  state,  went  to  his  strong  box 
to  count  his  money,  when  his  wretchedness  was  com 
pleted  by  finding  that  too  all  gone. 

"  Yet  I  have  still  my  fine  house,  rich  clothes,  and 


costly  furniture,"  he  said  as  he  went  to  bed  next  night. 
But  he  waked  up  in  the  morning,  in  his  miserable  hut, 
with  all  the  emblems  of  poverty  scattered  around  him. 


A  few  days  terminated  his  existence ;  for  the  enjoy 
ments  of  luxury,  had  rendered  him  incapable  of  sus 
taining  those  privations  which  poverty  had  enabled 
him  to  bear  without  a  murmur. 

From  that  time  the  fairies  determined  to  reward 
virtue,  not  by  bestowing  wealth  or  power,  but  by  en 
dowing  it  with  the  inestimable  blessing,  of  a  blame 
less  conscience,  a  benevolent  heart,  and  a  contented 
mind. 


V 


i 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY— TEL.  NO.  642-3405 
This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Kenewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall 


•  .  f$& 

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IAM  1  A  ?nnft 

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—  /Ihf  c7^ 

(J  A    (S^-s 

—  ^ys»4 

nnn   •  i  i    '(,'<; 

1 

LOAN   DUr  » 

"                  f*  I'"  F  1  —  t  —  ~A  »~m*». 

StP14  igrr; 

4 

SEG'D  LD  AUG  3 

12  -1  PM  2  8 

LD  21A-40m-2 ,'69  General  Library 

( J6057slO) 476— A-32  University  of  California 

Berkeley 


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